Comments:

• Good but not great

  Posted by: Aaron Jones May 1,2011

  

  I purchased the Casiana Mini on sale last week. It is a VERY LARGE bag that may be too heavy to carry if you fill it up with paperwork or other daily essentials.
  
  PROS
  ----
  - European styling and artisanal feel - the bag does not feel mass-produced. I can imagine a leather-smith made it in some hill town in Italy.
  - Large size can double as an overnight bag. For those who need the room, you can fit a laptop or a 1 - 2" binder into the bag.
  - With the sale, I got the bag for the price of a good quality smaller leather handbag
  
  CONS
  ----
  - The leather is soft but it does not compare in quality and softness to Coach's old gloved tan leather or Dooney & Burke's old all-weather leather.
  - Size may be TOO large for a daily commute bag/briefcase. I put the same number of items into the bag and it is MUCH heavier than my smaller leather bag.
  - The flip side to the artisanal bag is that the stitches are not uniform, there are some loose thread ends that were not trimmed, some of the rivets are slightly off-centered, one rivet is loose. The black substance used to seal the raw edges of leather was smeared on parts of the should strap.
  - There is only one zippered pocket but no additional pockets for pens, electronics, cell phone, etc. Thus, it is harder to find my things in the large cavity.
  - The handles are just a tad short for shoulder-carry. It would be great if they made them about 1 - 2" longer.
  - The detachable shoulder strap is very long (no length adjustment) and a bit thin. It felt unwieldy on my shoulders with the heavy bag swinging below my hips. I am concerned that the thin strap may not last long with such a heavy bag.
  
  Since the bag is very heavy, I will likely shelf it and use it mostly for short overnight trips rather than as an everyday bag.

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