The Marlow — Charcoal Leather Tote Bag

Charcoal is what you buy when black feels heavy and brown feels too casual for the room you walk into. This Marlow sits in the gray between the two: a cool, dusk colored hide that holds its shape against navy, camel and denim without ever matching any of them exactly. It photographs almost black indoors and clearly gray outside.

It comes in two sizes. The medium is 14.5″ (37 cm) wide, 11″ (28 cm) high and 5″ (13 cm) deep, with a 10.25″ (26 cm) handle drop, and takes up to a 13-inch laptop. The large is 17.25″ (44 cm) wide, 12.25″ (31 cm) high and 6″ (15 cm) deep, with a 10.75″ (27 cm) handle drop, and takes up to a 15-inch laptop. Pick the size in the menu above; the price changes with it.

It suits someone whose bag has to hold a working day and then some, and who would rather not think about a closure.

The leather

We take a hide that is already cool and gray in tone and dye charcoal into it, rather than lightening a black. It stays cool rather than turning brown in strong light, and the color sits deeper inside the grain lines.

How it is made

Load bearing seams are saddle stitched by hand, two needles through one hole, so a cut thread stays put instead of running. Brass hardware throughout, unplated, because plating wears through to gray exactly where your hand goes. Inside: cotton twill, a zip pocket on the wall and two open pockets opposite it. This one is cut when you order it and leaves in 3 to 5 working days.