X Body Man Bag Review

Guest post by handbag reviewer Katherine Bolton of Mzuri Design

The Man Bag passed the test with flying colours!

Mostly I think it is a bad thing that I’m rather addicted to my Blackberry, but sometimes is does have its advantages – such as being the first to tweet back to Shona that I’d love to test and review one of her bags when she did posted late-night tweet putting the offer out there!

We had a bit of a miss-start when I chose the Dieppe Handheld in Emerald as I’d failed to check out the dimensions of the bag online (oops!). Whiz back 10 months before our daughter Chloe arrived and this little number would have been great to house my blackberry, diary and lipstick when I was out and about. But now, with a mountain of baby ‘essentials’ to carry around I had to fess up to Shona that it wasn’t the right bag for me at the moment. Shona actually pre-empted my call and was totally understanding of my need for a change. After some helpful advice from Shona I settled on the Black ‘Man Bag’ which was suitably proportioned for the job at hand.

My bag got put through the mill for the week following its arrival that I had designated ‘bag testing week’ including:

  • a client meeting in Brighton (with a mountain of paperwork, samples and proofs to transport)
  • an impromptu day spent at QA Hospital to visit someone who had been rushed there (he is fine now)
  • a couple of busy non-work days with Chloë packed full of a swimming class, shopping and lunches with friends (these were particularly taxing days I’m sure you can imagine)
  • a normal ‘work day’ in the office armed with all my usual paperwork
  • various outings over the weekend,  some social, some more of the boring ‘errands’ variety, but all involving lugged stuff about in my bag

I have to say that the bag lived up to each and every one of these outings during the course of the week and has continued to since. So, having put the bag through its paces, here are the pros and cons of the Man Bag:

On the plus side:

The customer service experience was without fault – Shona is really knowledgeable about her bags and her customers. She knew before I did that the original bag I’d chosen might be on the small side and said so when I called her (talk about knowing your customers!). You get the impression with Shona that nothing is too much trouble, and as a designer she has a vested interest in marrying the right bag with the person, and clearly takes this task seriously.

The key clip revolutionised my life. Seriously. No scrabbling around the bottom of my bag for keys and the length allows you to open the door without having to take the bag off, or remove the keys from the clip.

The quality. I was impressed with the quality of the material and workmanship of the bag. It stood up well against the barrage of activity I dragged it through (chucking it on the floor when I get home, possibly overloading it a bit with bottles and paperwork, plonking it in the foot well of the car when I’m out and about etc).

The design. You can see that Shona has really considered the design of this bag very much with the user in mind. Plus the size was spot on and the funky pink lining was not only attractive but also had the added bonus of making it very easy to see everything that was in the bag. There are also loads of pockets to keep you organised. The strap length is adjustable which is really useful, plus the strap is exactly the right width so that it sits really comfortably on the shoulder without cutting in.

If I had to be picky:

There isn’t really much I can criticise about this bag, but if I was being picky I would say that the bag had a tendency to ‘bulk out’ at the front when I put stuff in the pocket on the front of the bag – so I tended to leave that empty, but it did work well as my ‘phone’ pocket.

Also, at the beginning of my use of the bag I started to wonder if there is there such thing as too many pockets, but as the week progressed I realised that the rule of thumb has to be that you have to have a system of what goes where, otherwise you can find yourself scrabbling around the many pockets looking for your lip-gloss. So, designate pockets for specific use and then it works beautifully. Not really a criticism of the bag, more a suggestion for optimum use!

I swap my bag usually about once a week as I am a bit of a collector and like a change. But it is testament to the design of Shona’s Man Bag that it has quite had a number of airings since the bag testing week and is now my staple bag of choice for days out with the little one because it houses everything I need for her at this stage, and because the strap crosses my body, it is practical and stays put when I’m out and about.

Thanks Shona for my new bag – I love it!

To receive our FREE newsletter, with details of our latest special offers, new collections and exclusive events, simply click here! I respect your privacy & will never share your information with anyone.

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.

X Body Man Bag Review

Guest post by handbag reviewer Katherine Bolton of Mzuri Design

The Man Bag passed the test with flying colours!

Mostly I think it is a bad thing that I’m rather addicted to my Blackberry, but sometimes is does have its advantages – such as being the first to tweet back to Shona that I’d love to test and review one of her bags when she did posted late-night tweet putting the offer out there!

We had a bit of a miss-start when I chose the Dieppe Handheld in Emerald as I’d failed to check out the dimensions of the bag online (oops!). Whiz back 10 months before our daughter Chloe arrived and this little number would have been great to house my blackberry, diary and lipstick when I was out and about. But now, with a mountain of baby ‘essentials’ to carry around I had to fess up to Shona that it wasn’t the right bag for me at the moment. Shona actually pre-empted my call and was totally understanding of my need for a change. After some helpful advice from Shona I settled on the Black ‘Man Bag’ which was suitably proportioned for the job at hand.

My bag got put through the mill for the week following its arrival that I had designated ‘bag testing week’ including:

  • a client meeting in Brighton (with a mountain of paperwork, samples and proofs to transport)
  • an impromptu day spent at QA Hospital to visit someone who had been rushed there (he is fine now)
  • a couple of busy non-work days with Chloë packed full of a swimming class, shopping and lunches with friends (these were particularly taxing days I’m sure you can imagine)
  • a normal ‘work day’ in the office armed with all my usual paperwork
  • various outings over the weekend,  some social, some more of the boring ‘errands’ variety, but all involving lugged stuff about in my bag

I have to say that the bag lived up to each and every one of these outings during the course of the week and has continued to since. So, having put the bag through its paces, here are the pros and cons of the Man Bag:

On the plus side:

The customer service experience was without fault – Shona is really knowledgeable about her bags and her customers. She knew before I did that the original bag I’d chosen might be on the small side and said so when I called her (talk about knowing your customers!). You get the impression with Shona that nothing is too much trouble, and as a designer she has a vested interest in marrying the right bag with the person, and clearly takes this task seriously.

The key clip revolutionised my life. Seriously. No scrabbling around the bottom of my bag for keys and the length allows you to open the door without having to take the bag off, or remove the keys from the clip.

The quality. I was impressed with the quality of the material and workmanship of the bag. It stood up well against the barrage of activity I dragged it through (chucking it on the floor when I get home, possibly overloading it a bit with bottles and paperwork, plonking it in the foot well of the car when I’m out and about etc).

The design. You can see that Shona has really considered the design of this bag very much with the user in mind. Plus the size was spot on and the funky pink lining was not only attractive but also had the added bonus of making it very easy to see everything that was in the bag. There are also loads of pockets to keep you organised. The strap length is adjustable which is really useful, plus the strap is exactly the right width so that it sits really comfortably on the shoulder without cutting in.

If I had to be picky:

There isn’t really much I can criticise about this bag, but if I was being picky I would say that the bag had a tendency to ‘bulk out’ at the front when I put stuff in the pocket on the front of the bag – so I tended to leave that empty, but it did work well as my ‘phone’ pocket.

Also, at the beginning of my use of the bag I started to wonder if there is there such thing as too many pockets, but as the week progressed I realised that the rule of thumb has to be that you have to have a system of what goes where, otherwise you can find yourself scrabbling around the many pockets looking for your lip-gloss. So, designate pockets for specific use and then it works beautifully. Not really a criticism of the bag, more a suggestion for optimum use!

I swap my bag usually about once a week as I am a bit of a collector and like a change. But it is testament to the design of Shona’s Man Bag that it has quite had a number of airings since the bag testing week and is now my staple bag of choice for days out with the little one because it houses everything I need for her at this stage, and because the strap crosses my body, it is practical and stays put when I’m out and about.

Thanks Shona for my new bag – I love it!

To receive our FREE newsletter, with details of our latest special offers, new collections and exclusive events, simply click here! I respect your privacy & will never share your information with anyone.

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.