Boston Briefcase Company

Well, we finally opened in Fitchburg, MA at 639 Main Street.  Please come in and see us.  We’re busy trying to extend our in-store selection, but anything you need from our website, we can bring in as you wish.  Our hours are…

Monday-Wednesday: 10-4

Closed Thursday

Friday-Saturday: 10-4

Closed Sunday

Or by appointment, just call ahead and let us know when you’re coming.

Here’s a picture of the front window sign.  We hope to get to the window display as soon as possible.

Well, we hope so.  We’re opening a store in Fitchburg, MA.  The Boston Briefcase Company will be opening its doors in early May.  We’ll be sharing space with an interior design firm called Design at 639, appropriately located at 639 Main Street.  Look for our etched glass window.   We’re almost directly across Main Street from the Public Library and in the heart of the artistic community- with a gallery next door and the Stratton Players right up the street.

Fitchburg is a college town in north-central Massachusetts with a recently elected, energetic young mayor who has brought a new, youthful and revitalizing vision to the city.  She’s begun simple programs and publicity campaigns to bring foot traffic to the downtown area including Thursday Downtown Walks, which help local shops meet new customers in an open house fashion.  We’re very excited to be joining such an energetic movement.

 We hope you’ll look us up.  We’ll post directions and hours here, once they’ve been established and cemented.

We’ve added some new lines and done some important updating of others. 

First, we’ve added Moonsus, an unuasual blend of fine fabrics accented by tough, but refined leather in a series of business cases and casual bags for the modern woman- who believes she can be both stylish and professional.  We may also add the counterpoint- Marsus- in the near future.

 We’ve also updated our High Sierra collection to reflect the latest models and colors available from this large manufacturer of sport related duffel bags, backpacks and luggage.  High Sierra makes a tough bag using the latest materials for sports that demand high performance like backpacking, skiiing and, oh yeah, life!

 Finally, we’re working on updating a few other popular lines like Sumdex, David King, who has added a whole bunch of new wheeled duffels, duffels and messenger bag designs for 2008.  We’re also looking forward to adding the latest line from McKlein called, Siamod, an upscale line using unique leathers and modern, functional designs- look for it by summer.

Over time (sometimes right from the beginning) a leather bag will start to show its age by fading in certain areas and/or cracking.  If you’re a hiker, you know this is especially true of leather boots, which get dry and thirsty after a while.  One of the technologies we’ve adapted from hiking to some of our leather bags is waxing.  It’s not new and you may already do this to your hiking, hunting or winter boots.  It’s easier than it sounds and can really improve the look and feel of some leather bags (or boots as the case may be).   It can toughen up a soft leather and give it a nice satin sheen, and it will also weatherproof the leather against water and snow to a certain extent.

This isn’t for everyone, but it is one of our favorite, let’s call it, leather modifications.  Some leathers are more appropriate for this procedure than others, and all will darken.  The only leather that this won’t work on is highly finished, high gloss leathers, like many Italian leathers and those from Bosca.  As always, be warned, we do not take responsibility for the end results of this proceedure- in other words, do this at your own risk. As we said, the final results are not for everyone and it is irreversible. We’re going to try to produce some before and after photographs of the results, but that won’t be for a while.

The ideal leather for this kind of treatement is a soft, natural leather like our David King products.  They really suck up the wax and we find that it gives the leather a darker, more rich tone overall. 

The products we’ve used are Filson’s parafin based wax treatment and SnoSeal.  We prefer the snow seal because it’s easy to work with and can be buffed to a nice even sheen. 

You’ll need some basic tools for the job: a pair of latex (or other if you’re alergic to lated) gloves, paper towels, a hair dryer, a clean dry buffing cloth.

Begin by brushing the leather clean with the clean dry cloth. Next, use the hair dryer to heat up one section of the bag at a time. For instance, we like to start with the front, then do the gusset then the back and finish with the handles or any straps. After it’s been heated a bit with the hairdryer, take a dollop of SnoSeal on a folded paper towel and begin working it in by massaging the wax all over the area. Then, heat it with the hair dryer agian and let it soak a bit. Continue applying the wax until the leather doesn’t seem thirsty for anymore. Do the entire bag this way. Finally, buff the leather with the clean, dry cloth. If you have a bottle of leather cream or even an aloe based skin product around the house, you can apply that afterwards to get a bit more shine. Always finish with a bit of a buffing using a clean, dry cloth.