A Review and Appreciation: The Herschel Supply Co. Slim Messenger Bag

I’ve been carrying around a truly spectacular slim messenger bag from the Herschel Supply Co for years, but haven’t reviewed it until now.

It’s funny the things you fixate on versus others that you take for granted.

I spend as much time writing about menswear startups as my day job and home life allow.

Often, though, I’ll get fixated on random Instagram posts or reviewing a free sample of hair cream that someone handed me on the street during SXSW. (Though in all seriousness, Cremo’s hair cream is terrific.)

At the same time, I sometimes neglect to write about essential items that spark great joy and for which I am very thankful.

This brings me to the Herschel Supply Co.

Brothers Jamie and Lyndon Cormack founded Herschel Supply Company in Vancouver, Canada in 2009 to fill what they saw as a gap in the market: stylish backpacks and bags for guys.

Today, the company has grown into a lifestyle brand that includes backpacks, bags, wallets, apparel and more for men, women and kids.

Herschel Supply Co’s retro-styled, nostalgia-inspiring backpacks, weekender bags, portfolios, briefcases and messenger bags are available in more than 70 countries around the world via distributorships and direct-to-consumer e-commerce.

For the past two years, I have proudly toted a slim, pebbled full-grain black leather messenger bag from the Herschel Supply Co. around the streets of DC.

The bag is part of Herschel Supply Company’s “Bad Hills Workshop” collection that the company launched way back in 2012.

I received it for free from Details Magazine in exchange for completing a post about trading snow boots and parkas for oxfords and unlined blazers that featured the hashtag #mydetails.

I’ve loved it ever since. It’s perfect for someone who doesn’t like carrying around a heavy, bulky bag. It fits my small laptop and some papers and an umbrella in an outside pocket.

One of my good friends complements me on my bag every single time he sees me carrying it.

Sadly, the Bad Hills Workshop collection has been retired, but Herschel Supply Co. has a ton of interesting bags on offer.

The Sandford Messenger Bag in a nylon cross-stitch is an attractive successor to the Bad Hills Workshop bag that I own.

From the moment I received it, each time I picked it up to carry it to work, I thought to myself, “I’m going to write this bag up.” I never did.

Until now.