Field and Street

The first Filson bag I ever saw was in the callused hands of a wrangler in Grand Junction, Colorado. The next million hung from the shoulders of ad designers, junior corporate lawyers, and artfully disheveled fashion writers in Man­hattan’s East Village. That’s right: Bags by Filson, makers of refined hunting-and-fishing apparel and accessories, are suddenly in vogue among urbanites. Apparently, burly is the new black. Union workers at the Seattle factory hand-make each field bag, duffel, and carry-on, tanning the virtually indestructible bridle-leather straps for weeks, selecting the sturdiest cotton twill and YKK zippers, and then meticulously stitching and riveting it all together. When I accidentally backed over my Pullman—like the one pictured here ($335; filson.com)—and popped a rivet, Filson replaced the whole bag, as has been its policy since it was founded, in 1897. That kind of longevity is proof that high quality will always be in style.