Filson Bag Thread: With Pictures

[woodsjw]

All this talk of hard cases. I’ve taken the plunge and picked up a gently used Pelican Storm rolling case in olive green. I think this will pair really well with my various Filsons, as well as being very distinctive on the luggage carousel. Yes, it’s just a box on wheels. Yes it has zero interior organisaztion. And it’s a bit heavier than a normal case, but not a complete anchor like the full Pelican transport cases are.
But it should have a lot of character and look good with scuffs and scars. It can be stickered up like a rimowa and I’m never going to worry about checking it!
I’ll report back once it arrives.

Green is a bit strong in this pic - should be more olive in person.

I’m excited.

View attachment 1051612

Here’s the Filson / Pelican vibe. Journeymen in evidence too...
View attachment 1051614

I ordered a Pelican case a few years back and it was much bigger than I expected when it arrived! It's too large even to check due to its substantial weight... but I got a great deal on it and now I use it as a deployment box to keep uniforms, boots and other necessary gear in (I'm a reservist along with being a priest.) Anyway, the thing is built like a tank and I'd definitely consider picking up another one that was smaller for air travel. The olive is my favorite and I agree, it'll looks great with your Filson gear. Nice find!

 

[smcguirt]

All this talk of hard cases. I’ve taken the plunge and picked up a gently used Pelican Storm rolling case in olive green. I think this will pair really well with my various Filsons, as well as being very distinctive on the luggage carousel. Yes, it’s just a box on wheels. Yes it has zero interior organisaztion. And it’s a bit heavier than a normal case, but not a complete anchor like the full Pelican transport cases are.
But it should have a lot of character and look good with scuffs and scars. It can be stickered up like a rimowa and I’m never going to worry about checking it!
I’ll report back once it arrives.

Green is a bit strong in this pic - should be more olive in person.

I’m excited.

View attachment 1051612

Here’s the Filson / Pelican vibe. Journeymen in evidence too...
View attachment 1051614

Is that a 1510 pelican in the journeyman pic?

 

[speedy611]

I ordered a Pelican case a few years back and it was much bigger than I expected when it arrived! It's too large even to check due to its substantial weight... but I got a great deal on it and now I use it as a deployment box to keep uniforms, boots and other necessary gear in (I'm a reservist along with being a priest.) Anyway, the thing is built like a tank and I'd definitely consider picking up another one that was smaller for air travel. The olive is my favorite and I agree, it'll looks great with your Filson gear. Nice find!

Thanks Woods. Do we now get to call you WarriorMonk? ;-)

Dimensions on the case are 58.7 linear inches, so should be good for the airline 60 inch max. Weight wise it’s 8kg - approx 2kg more than the equivalent sized Rimowa so I can (hopefully) live with that trade off. As I understand it the Storm cases are lighter than the equivalent Pelican case as in fact Pelican bought a company called Hardigg that made military cases and the Storm range was one of these.

@smcguirt - I didn’t take the pic, but yes, it looks about right for the 1510.

 

[woodsjw]

Thanks Woods. Do we now get to call you WarriorMonk? ;-)

Hahaha... ummm how do I change my username?

 

[GN1027]

What I’ve been saying for a long time! No one believed me until ‘Jack Ryan’ starting sporting one!!!

It is like a benevolent weed pushing out all my other ‘personal item’ sized bags from rotation like the Red Oxx Gator or the Ernest Alexander Watson or the Yuketan Mailman Bag!

Yup. Same here. I work at a school and go back and forth between my office on campus and our athletic center. I Bought the Brooks Brothers one in blue 6 months ago and haven’t used another backpack or briefcase since. Other than a Speedo swim bag for the pool (half my job is being the swim team coach).

 

[coolarrow]

A lot of luggage recently! Here's my addition to the stable. This is the large size not the XL. I'll be using this on those 5-7 day trips. Also, family visits. Always seem to bring back more stuff on family trips than what I take. Really like that large leather patch on the bottom. Like how it lays flat. Will do a post-trip review soon:

 

[speedy611]

Interesting visit to the London Filson store today. Had a long chat with the manager who I’m getting to know now! I’m sure turning up in Packer hat, moleskin vest and small field bag must help.... ;-)

A few things came up in conversation, perhaps of svery specific interest to @OtterMeanGreen and @TinMan3

1. Twill Origins: Store manager has met Stan Kohl and confirms that the first of the Twill bags were in 1994. What I didn’t know was that Stan had spent a long time looking at all the available products on the market in the hunting/fishing world - as well as movie bags. From these inspirations came the twill bag line. Stan still owns the factory building in Seattle too.

2. Leather: Store manager was well aware of the ‘old’ leather and the ‘new’ leather, and the difference in colours. Most interestingly, Filson are switching the leather on the new bags to a more reddish hue!!!! I’m looking forward to seeing this.

3. Product development - up until 4 years ago, apparently there were NO product desginers at all. I was told that changes occurred as small evolutions made directly by the pattern cutters. There are now designers (eg the dry bag range which sells well). I asked about a customer forum or feedback, and there is still nothing like this.

4. FRD - used to be called Filson vintage. He tells me that it’s really hard to get enough bags to get any sort of consistency or volume from FRD - to the extent that all the faulty/returned items in the UK are being fed back to Seattle as source material for FRD. And get this: before FRD really got going, the faulty stuff was just junked...straight to landfill. Noooooo!

5. MIUSA - still really critical. But they struggle with cost/price. He was saying that the cloth and materials used are really top drawer quality even when (especially? In the case of the twill) when made overseas. So to make a flannel shirt in the USA would result in a sticker cost of $250, which just doesn’t work.

He was very passionate about all this stuff too, which was good to hear. I asked how often he had this sort of conversation with customers (ie those who get the brand and the history, and know the product mix), and he said ‘almost never’. So at least here in the UK it’s still very much a niche, premium brand. By way of a benchmark, in the afternoon spent walking around the priciest retail areas in the UK, including Red Wing, Ralph Lauren, Belstaff, and Barbour I saw precisely zero other Filson bags or products among the general public.

6. Sticker: I got a cool sticker - about 5 inches long. This will go on my Pelican case:

A quick word on heritage brands and customer service too:
- The Filson guys were all very cool and happy to chat.
- Red Wing guys liked the patina on my engineer boots so much that they took me outside for a photo for their Insta feed (feet only, thankfully!)
- Belstaff people spent a long time examining my very old, dirty and beaten up Trailmaster jacket, before taking it away for a new zip and repairs - most of which will be free - on an jacket from mid 1970s.

This is why I love quality stuff.

Apologies for the essay, thanks for reading.

 

[woodsjw]

Interesting visit to the London Filson store today. Had a long chat with the manager who I’m getting to know now! I’m sure turning up in Packer hat, moleskin vest and small field bag must help.... ;-)

A few things came up in conversation, perhaps of svery specific interest to @OtterMeanGreen and @TinMan3

1. Twill Origins: Store manager has met Stan Kohl and confirms that the first of the Twill bags were in 1994. What I didn’t know was that Stan had spent a long time looking at all the available products on the market in the hunting/fishing world - as well as movie bags. From these inspirations came the twill bag line. Stan still owns the factory building in Seattle too.

2. Leather: Store manager was well aware of the ‘old’ leather and the ‘new’ leather, and the difference in colours. Most interestingly, Filson are switching the leather on the new bags to a more reddish hue!!!! I’m looking forward to seeing this.

3. Product development - up until 4 years ago, apparently there were NO product desginers at all. I was told that changes occurred as small evolutions made directly by the pattern cutters. There are now designers (eg the dry bag range which sells well). I asked about a customer forum or feedback, and there is still nothing like this.

4. FRD - used to be called Filson vintage. He tells me that it’s really hard to get enough bags to get any sort of consistency or volume from FRD - to the extent that all the faulty/returned items in the UK are being fed back to Seattle as source material for FRD. And get this: before FRD really got going, the faulty stuff was just junked...straight to landfill. Noooooo!

5. MIUSA - still really critical. But they struggle with cost/price. He was saying that the cloth and materials used are really top drawer quality even when (especially? In the case of the twill) when made overseas. So to make a flannel shirt in the USA would result in a sticker cost of $250, which just doesn’t work.

He was very passionate about all this stuff too, which was good to hear. I asked how often he had this sort of conversation with customers (ie those who get the brand and the history, and know the product mix), and he said ‘almost never’. So at least here in the UK it’s still very much a niche, premium brand. By way of a benchmark, in the afternoon spent walking around the priciest retail areas in the UK, including Red Wing, Ralph Lauren, Belstaff, and Barbour I saw precisely zero other Filson bags or products among the general public.

6. Sticker: I got a cool sticker - about 5 inches long. This will go on my Pelican case:

View attachment 1052509

A quick word on heritage brands and customer service too:
- The Filson guys were all very cool and happy to chat.
- Red Wing guys liked the patina on my engineer boots so much that they took me outside for a photo for their Insta feed (feet only, thankfully!)
- Belstaff people spent a long time examining my very old, dirty and beaten up Trailmaster jacket, before taking it away for a new zip and repairs - most of which will be free - on an jacket from mid 1970s.

This is why I love quality stuff.

Apologies for the essay, thanks for reading.

Thanks for this Speedy! I like these kind of posts.

 

[woodsjw]

So I was curious if any of y’all have any thoughts on quality leather jackets? I found a barely used Schott NYC 654 Cafe Racer last night on eBay for 1/3 of the retail price and jumped on it. This will be my first quality leather jacket and I think it’ll look great with my OG 257.

 

[Stratkat]

So I was curious if any of y’all have any thoughts on quality leather jackets? I found a barely used Schott NYC 654 Cafe Racer last night on eBay for 1/3 of the retail price and jumped on it. This will be my first quality leather jacket and I think it’ll look great with my OG 257.

Vanson guy right here.

 

[Stratkat]

18 yrs old and perfectly broken in.

 

[woodsjw]

18 yrs old and perfectly broken in. View attachment 1052594

Not familiar with the brand.. I’ll have to check them out!

 

[Stratkat]

Not familiar with the brand.. I’ll have to check them out!

They used be be made in Fall River, MA. Not so sure they are still USA made. Fantastic show room, you could try your jacket on and sit on any one of several diff motorcycles to see if the fit was right, they made them right on the premises. I’ve had a couple of offs with mine and you’d never know it!

 

[M635Guy]

My Otter hat served me well while I pressure-washed the front of the house and front porch today...

5. MIUSA - still really critical. But they struggle with cost/price. He was saying that the cloth and materials used are really top drawer quality even when (especially? In the case of the twill) when made overseas. So to make a flannel shirt in the USA would result in a sticker cost of $250, which just doesn’t work.

That's got to be a statement of a bad structure on their part. Plenty of folks are making awesome shirts in the USA of premium fabric for a lot less than that...

 

[TinMan3]

Interesting visit to the London Filson store today. Had a long chat with the manager who I’m getting to know now! I’m sure turning up in Packer hat, moleskin vest and small field bag must help.... ;-)

A few things came up in conversation, perhaps of svery specific interest to @OtterMeanGreen and @TinMan3

1. Twill Origins: Store manager has met Stan Kohl and confirms that the first of the Twill bags were in 1994. What I didn’t know was that Stan had spent a long time looking at all the available products on the market in the hunting/fishing world - as well as movie bags. From these inspirations came the twill bag line. Stan still owns the factory building in Seattle too.

2. Leather: Store manager was well aware of the ‘old’ leather and the ‘new’ leather, and the difference in colours. Most interestingly, Filson are switching the leather on the new bags to a more reddish hue!!!! I’m looking forward to seeing this.

3. Product development - up until 4 years ago, apparently there were NO product desginers at all. I was told that changes occurred as small evolutions made directly by the pattern cutters. There are now designers (eg the dry bag range which sells well). I asked about a customer forum or feedback, and there is still nothing like this.

4. FRD - used to be called Filson vintage. He tells me that it’s really hard to get enough bags to get any sort of consistency or volume from FRD - to the extent that all the faulty/returned items in the UK are being fed back to Seattle as source material for FRD. And get this: before FRD really got going, the faulty stuff was just junked...straight to landfill. Noooooo!

5. MIUSA - still really critical. But they struggle with cost/price. He was saying that the cloth and materials used are really top drawer quality even when (especially? In the case of the twill) when made overseas. So to make a flannel shirt in the USA would result in a sticker cost of $250, which just doesn’t work.

He was very passionate about all this stuff too, which was good to hear. I asked how often he had this sort of conversation with customers (ie those who get the brand and the history, and know the product mix), and he said ‘almost never’. So at least here in the UK it’s still very much a niche, premium brand. By way of a benchmark, in the afternoon spent walking around the priciest retail areas in the UK, including Red Wing, Ralph Lauren, Belstaff, and Barbour I saw precisely zero other Filson bags or products among the general public.

6. Sticker: I got a cool sticker - about 5 inches long. This will go on my Pelican case:

View attachment 1052509

A quick word on heritage brands and customer service too:
- The Filson guys were all very cool and happy to chat.
- Red Wing guys liked the patina on my engineer boots so much that they took me outside for a photo for their Insta feed (feet only, thankfully!)
- Belstaff people spent a long time examining my very old, dirty and beaten up Trailmaster jacket, before taking it away for a new zip and repairs - most of which will be free - on an jacket from mid 1970s.

This is why I love quality stuff.

Apologies for the essay, thanks for reading.

First of all, no surprise that they were impressed with your engineers at the Red Wing store. When I saw them 6 months ago the Patina was already setting in nicely!

I loved your entire post, but what really struck me was the part about Stan Kohl and his search for the perfect materials. The twill truly is unique to itself and no one else really does it the same. It is, to this day, after all the bags I have handled my favorite material out there.

As far as the MiUSA theory goes, I find it a little hard to believe that the cost would be that much. For a flannel. Somehow, Gustin is able to produce clothing MiUSA for very reasonable prices, so maybe it is just how their manufacturing process is set up that is the limiting factor. I think what may be more viable is that they need to charge $250 in order to reach their desired profit margin (they are equity owned after all). Either way, I have been quite happy with most of the overseas made garments that I have purchased from Filson, so as long as they continue to prioritize bag production abroad.

Thanks for write up, and I’m glad that you had a productive visit to Newburgh St!