A few months ago I found this small backpack in a Goodwill for $4, and have been using it most days as my shuttlecraft (big backpack is the mothership and little backpack comes out for short range missions). The material looks and feels like a stretchy, slippy vinyl, and its straps are secured with velcro, allowing me to attach them to each other transforming this into a cross-body. A translucent label sewn on the top flap has "b-bags" embossed in black. Its interior has no brand labels, only a tag reading:
SYNTHETIC LEATHER
MADE IN CHINA
MADE IN CHINA
which I find incredibly hilarious, considering this material resembles leather in no way whatsoever, unless you think every material that isn't a woven fiber must be analogous to leather. My research into this bag and brand have been unsuccessful, so judging it solely on appearance I would optimistically date this between the late 90s to early 2000s. Pessimistically, this is just some bag with no quasi-vintage provenance. But I love it, so who cares, right?
The previous owner may have been incredibly gentle, but I believe this bag was in almost-new condition when I found it because with my repeated use small tears have been propagating along the top curve where vinyl attaches to the polyester straps.
My original idea went as follows: cut a long, narrow piece of a supporting material (in this case, black marine vinyl) and glue it along the top seam of my bag. This new trim would stop any tears from propagating further and evenly distribute the load to minimize future damage.
The glue wasn't setting as quickly as I had hoped, so I left my bag overnight. Next morning I check my work and pull the trim gently to test adhesion-- shock of shocks it peels away leaving no residue on my bag! Obviously Chinese "synthetic leather" is some kind of magic material and it's the first time E6000 has failed me.
The glue wasn't setting as quickly as I had hoped, so I left my bag overnight. Next morning I check my work and pull the trim gently to test adhesion-- shock of shocks it peels away leaving no residue on my bag! Obviously Chinese "synthetic leather" is some kind of magic material and it's the first time E6000 has failed me.
The end.
Well, in a way... I'm a bit glad this repair didn't work as planned when the marine vinyl went on bulkier than I hoped. This now provides me an opportunity for a do-over. My original concept is sound, I just want to find a thinner material and need a different glue. And in case anyone cares, it did occur to me to sew on the trim, but I am wary of poking more holes into my backpack.
Always try to Fix It and always be ready to fail, we'll see how this one goes.
Always try to Fix It and always be ready to fail, we'll see how this one goes.