A REALLY LONG POST ABOUT LUGGAGE AND NOT EVEN ANY PHOTOS...

{*But click the links and I'll try to add some photos later...}

Believe it or not, there are a few things I dislike shopping for. Most electrical goods for one; really anything where function exists without any thought to form. If I have to buy stuff, the criteria is always style and substance. There must be both or I get very grumpy at having to shell out the cash.

I've only ever had crappy luggage: a black nylon holdall from Herve Chapelier that had lasted me oh god, probably 15 years or so. (I actually bought it at the very first Space NK shop in Covent Garden that sold clothes! And had a cafe!) I also had a black Ikea wheelie suitcase which was fine. You can feel my enthusiasm can't you. It's just that all luggage except Globetrotter is so insanely boring and bufugly that I really couldn't be bothered with it, even though I travel quite a bit. And I don't have the muscle bound menservants that travelling with Globetrotter luggage requires. In fact, I do have a Globetrotter suitcase that was my granny's and I love it dearly even though it is completely knackered and smells of mould inside. Globetrotter are going to re-line it for me though because they are amazing like that and then I will store stuff and things in it.

So when I found myself having to throw out every single piece of luggage I owned because of - well you can probably work out why if you're a regular reader and if not, sorry you'll have to scroll a bit because I'm so bored of myself typing those words over and over again; when I found myself needing to buy new luggage I thought I am only going to do this once. I am going to buy something so durable that I won't ever have to traipse around Selfridges luggage department forlornly searching for something that isn't completely mediocre, or have to scour the internet forever and ever and ever.

My starting point was a friend's Tusting holdall, which I had admired, but I don't like to get the same as friends - it feels weird. I reckoned I needed something that would hold my stuff for 5-7 days as I rarely go away for longer, and my big Anna Corinna bag is big enough for an overnight stay. So unfortunately although I of course had a spare £2,200 lying around, the SC 4 LV bag would not suit my requirements on this occasion as it's not big enough.

I wanted canvas with leather trim, not nylon. I started haunting the mens' department at Liberty. Here, there were a few that came close, but not quite. This one from Ally Capellino is nice but not sturdy enough, this Paul Smith one is nice but too small, this Mulberry one is beautiful but too expensive etc etc etc.

I then began to hang around gentlemens' outfitters in Piccadilly but all I found were some Japanese tourists wearing tweed plus fours. Nothing! But that was when I realised: I had been trying to find something traditionally English, whereas of course, the people doing that traditional English heritage thing really well are of course: American.

All along I had been thinking of this holdall featured in Blueprint. When I dug the issue out I saw that it was made by Billykirk - who have no stockists in the UK. Grr. Then A Continuous Lean posted about Filson's collaboration with Urban Outfitters. That was it - my bag. I emailed UO in the UK to find out if they would be carried here, which I knew was unlikely as Filson is a US brand and not much heard of here. After a lot of Googling I found myself on a British fly fishing forum that was discussing Filson; with people saying things like, and I quote:

"Filson clothing is extremely durable and lasts forever, which is crucial for my survival in the wild."

What's that mate, been attacked by a giant salmon have you? I do love that men geek out over practical clothing, but if you had switched out the words *fly fishing* for *mascara wand* from that forum, it would have sounded just like a load of teenage girls discussing Diorshow on Make Up Alley. But thanks to those brave fly fishers I found out about Ptarmigan which is the only stockist of Filson in the UK. They also stock other foreign outdoorsy hunting/fishing brands. I ordered the medium bag in tan and about half an hour later I got a phone call from a lovely man to say it was out of stock but the green one was really very nice. I won't bore you with the details as this is getting long enough, but I was so bowled over to get an actual human phoning me up and discussing a product knowledgeably that I agreed to have it in green to see what I thought. And I love it.

A week later I got an email from Urban Outfitters in response to my query about the Filson collaboration that said: Sometimes things that are on our US website aren't on our UK website. Thanks.

No, no, thank you for your exemplary customer service. Anyway I am totally thrilled with my Filson holdall and I love their slogan:

"Might as well have the best."

I'm going away for the weekend so we'll see how my bag holds up *in the wild.*