Labels are cheap. Here are the seven things we would check on anyone's bag — including ours.
1. Which leather, exactly?
'Genuine leather' is the lowest grade that can legally be called leather. 'Bonded' is scraps and glue. 'Top-grain' has been sanded. Full-grain is the intact top layer of the hide and the only grade that improves with age. If the brand will not say which, assume the cheapest. (Regalia Voyage: full-grain at every load point.)
2. How is the hardware attached?
Glue fails; rivets and stitched loops through metal rings do not. Look at where the handle meets the body. (Regalia Voyage: riveted to 32 mm square rings.)
3. What is the zipper?
Coil zippers in plastic are the first thing to go on a travel bag. Metal teeth, two sliders, a replaceable puller. (Regalia Voyage: metal two-way, padlockable.)
4. Where are the seams?
A seam along the base is a seam that gets dragged. One-piece wraps cost more fabric and more care in cutting; they last. (Regalia Voyage: single 940 × 460 mm panel, no base seam.)
5. What is the lining — and can you clean it?
Printed and light linings date a bag and show every pen mark. Dark suede or a plain woven lining can be brushed clean and never looks 'last season'. (Regalia Voyage: plain black suede.)
6. Can every wear part be replaced?
Handles, straps, sliders, feet. If replacing one means destroying the bag, the bag has a built-in expiry date. (Regalia Voyage: all mechanically attached. The house does not yet run its own repair service; any competent leather workshop can.)
7. Did it exist before you bought it?
The last question is the biggest. A bag that sat in a warehouse is a bag that was made on a guess, and for every one that found an owner there are others that did not. Ask whether the brand holds stock. (Regalia Voyage: made to order or pre-ordered; no speculative stock.)
And one thing to notice
Does the brand say what it cannot prove? Certifications it does not hold, programmes it has not launched. A brand that lists its gaps is one you can hold to them. Ours are listed on the page that calls the Regalia Voyage the most sustainable leather bag.