Oppermann London - Goswell briefcase

Earlier this year I got a message from Mattis Oppermann, the co-founder of Oppermann London. Oppermann is a Swedish-German brand based in London. The company was founded by Mattis and his brother Niklas in 2011 and the first collection was introduced in November 2012. Recently they presented their second, now extended collection of leather bags, portfolios and accessories.

After a little Mattis asked me if I was interested to give a try to their products. As I was more than pleased to take the chance, the decision to choose was left for me. Finall I ended up to pick their "Goswell Briefcase" portfolio in navy blue.

Oppermann London - Goswell briefcase

The Goswell briefcase is made of full grain vegetable tanned leather and features a heavy drill cotton lining. It has one closing and one open compartment inside. The bag takes easily a 13" laptop along with some documents or books in case it's needed. In addition the portfolio has a large zipper puller closure secured with a button.

So far the bag has got use every now and then and my feelings about it are pretty much positive. The leather used in the bag is pretty soft, supple and durable. This you can actually even see in the pictures. I can imagine that for example the cognac color would develop a beautiful patina with use over time. As I chose the blue one, I believe developing that patina will just take a bit longer.

However there are two little things I would miss. First of all, the bag does feature any smaller pockets inside the folder. These would be useful to put your business cards or maybe even phone or a wallet when you're on the move. Secondly, as the briefcase is quite big, it could have handles. That would help a lot carrying it around.

Decent quality with reasonable price

A thing that is worth a note is the price range of the products. In case you're looking for a portfolio or a laptop folder but don't feel like paying the prices asked by Ettinger, Mismo or Louis Vuitton for example, Oppermann is an option worth to take a look. With a price tags of around 160£ for the Goswell case or 110£ for the laptop folder I dare to say that you can get pretty good value for your money. The products are made in Asia that can in some cases be a deal-breaker for someone. But as we've seen for example with Meermin in terms of shoes, it does not mean that the products would automatically be made to lower quality standards than the ones made in some parts of Europe. It's all about quality control. And based on this (short) experience  I have no hard time to believe Mattis's words about how they've spent almost two years on developing the products and finding the right materials and suppliers before the launch. And in this case I could say it's been worth it. It's often said that "you get what you pay for" and most of the time it holds true. In this case you may even get a bit more than what you're paying for.

Oppermann London - S/S 2013 collection

As mentioned above Oppermann just recently launched a new collection with extended range of products. The new collections includes in addition to the Goswell Briefcase some really nice looking products such as the "25-hour bag Palissy" in cognac and black, "Laptop folder Islington" in colors as British Racing Green and Burgundy and finally some Ipad sleeves, cardholders and wallets.