CHOOSING A TRAVEL BAG FOR A SHORT OR WEEKEND GETAWAY
Planning on getting away from it all for a weekend or just a few days? Well, you can forget about your traditional bulky suitcase which is oversized and unpracticle for a short trip of less than a week. What is ideal for this type of trip is a travel bag with a 20 to 40-litre capacity.
The travel bag can be carried in your hand or over the shoulder, on your back, or even pulled on wheels. It can be made of leather, cotton or synthetic canvas. Nevertheless, before making your final choice, many criteria must be taken into account: your primary means of trasportation (car, plane, train, bicycle,....), the main reason for your trip (leisure or business), and what you plan on carrying in your bag.
CANVAS TRAVEL BAGS: THEY MAY BE LIGHTER, BUT PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR DURABLILTY AND THEIR LOOK
The advantage of having a canvas travel bag is that it is lighter than its leather counterpart, which is an important criterion to think about if you have to walk long distances. That being said, it is important to be cautious with respect to the resistance and properties of the canvas. Moreover, it would be unfortunate to sacrifice the esthetic component. It is entirely possible to buy a canvas travel bag that is both stylish, water resistant, and for which the durability allows it to age beautifully over time and thus increase in charm.
If your primary means of travel is the car, a hand-held travel bag is your best option, since you won’t have to walk long distances with it and it is easily stored in the trunk. Our Cabine travel bag is ideal for this situation. It is made with a magnificent cotton waxed canvas produced in the north of France. It is a canvas which was used for the renovation of the famous Jeep Willis MB collector - unique and water resistant, this canvas ages beautifully. (The blue Cabine travel bag is made from Lickwax Twill from British Millerain.) With a volume capacity of 37.5 liters, this bag is practical for a week-long trip for a lone traveller, or four or five days for a couple, as long as you don’t have too many specific clothes to transport.
It can also be carried over the shoulder, which is, in fact, a very good option if you are travelling by train or plane if you choose not to check it in. As the name suggests, you can bring it with you on bord. You can also place it on the back of a motorcycle.
If you frequently get around on foot or by bike during your travels, or even if you wish having a bag that is more convenient, a backpack is your best option. Our Woody backpacks M (40.5 liters) and S (30.2 liters) are made of the same canvas as our Cabine travel bags. Their unique look is reminiscent of ancient hiking bags. They can be also be carried by hand thanks to their leather handles.
LEATHER TRAVEL BAGS: ELEGANCE AND RESISTANCE
For elegance, durability and the ability to become more beautiful with age, nothing can replace a leather travel bag (that is, if the leather is of an outstanding quality).
We propose a collection of exceptional leather travel bags, carried in the hand, over the shoulder or on the back. For all our bags, handles and accessories, we use exclusively vegetable tanned leather produced in the two best european tanneries in France and in Italy.
For a trip by car, plane or train, our travel bags Hobo and Zoom are ideal. They are exceptionally elegant while still remaining loyal to the “heritage” and “workwear” spirit of Bleu de Chauffe.
Le Hobo, with a capacity of 36 L, can be carried in the hand or over the shoulder. With its volume capacity and usage, it is the leather equivalent of our canvas Cabine travel bag. The Zoom is the most recent addition to our travel bag collection. It has a capacity of 39.6 L to which is added even more storage capacity with its concealed outside pouch, perfect for storing a laptop computer, files and magazines. Between the travel bag and the duffle bag, it is carried in the hand.
With a volume capacity of 20 L, our practical yet stylish leather Zibeline backpack, inspired by 1960s backpacks, is an excellent option for combining the comfort of a backpack and the elegance of a unique-looking leather bag.
Thanks to its large volume capacity for a business bag (18.3 L), our postman bag Irving is large enough for a two-day trip.
Finally, during your getaways, don’t forget our leather Zazou toiletry bags.
BLEU DE CHAUFFE: MADE IN FRANCE TRAVEL BAGS
One thing that is essential to understand is that no travel bag will last or age well if it is made of an inferior quality.
All our bags are made by hand in our workshop near Milau in the south of France. Each bag is entirely hand-made by only one craftsperson whose signature inside the bag is the mark of a one-of-a-kind piece of an exceptional quality. Our artisans are the soul of our workshop.
For each one of our bags, we use the best European canvases and leathers. Our leathers are exclusively “vegetable tanned”. They are mass dyed using a spinarette dyeing process that avoids the use of chromium and other toxic and polluting products, which are often used in conventional tanneries. “Vegetable tanned” leathers are dyed thanks to organic tannins that come from the sap, bark, or leaves of trees such as chestnut, acacia and oak, or the mimosa bush. The coulours are deeper and more natural, and the leather acquire a magnificent patina over time.
For a two-day or week-long getaway, with your needs in mind, choose a leather or canvas travel bag, carried in the hand, over the shoulder or on the back, with a volume capacity from 20 to 40 liters. If you don’t compromise on its quality and look, your bag will accompany you for a very long time and become even more beautiful with age. It will become a one-of-a-kind object with a soul.