some good briefcases (including 17 secondhand options)
mostly leather because it's leather
I like a good briefcase. They’re classic. I feel like it’s weird when people talk about a “men’s purse,” like, what? there are like twelve kinds of bags that are perfectly fine for men to carry, but some weirdo is going to call them purses either to: a. make fun of a man for doing something super ordinary if not mildly masculine, or b. revel in some transgressive excitement for doing something boring an everyday, but no, you called it a purse, so that makes you cool I guess? (yeah, usually A, but I’ve seen B, and it’s just as weird). a bag’s just a bag, sometimes, brah.
… alright, that was a tangent, here are some good briefcases. also there are affiliate links here.
Leather options
Coach is good, vintage coach is probably better. My current leather briefcase is vintage Coach. I love it.
Beckett Simonon, made to order for $309. Note that good, new leather products are expensive; this will be the cheapest new leather option I post here.
Bleu de Chauffe. Generally for French Workwear styles of bag, but I linked to their “business bag” selection, which generally contains some more briefcasey options. I think these are an exceptional value, especially new.
Polo Ralph Lauren. Zero experience with these. They seem cool I guess.
Linjer does a really nice leather briefcase, or they did, but at some point they pivoted to doing women’s jewelry, and they still have the leather bag listed, but it’s not in stock atm, but if it comes back in stock, then yeah, this one, I want it.
Frank Clegg, and not Lotuff Leather.
Here’s a story about how the Lotuffs attempted to scam Frank Clegg. Frank is an actual leather worker, the Lotuffs are just scummy business dudes.
I’d describe this as a “luxury” offering. There’s no real specific definition there, but yeah, this is what I think qualifies.
Warning: these bag start at $750 and run up to very large amounts of money because some exotic leathers are very expensive. You don’t have to buy the exotic leathers. They can’t hurt you.
Carl Friedrik. Also a luxury option.
Ghurka. Heritage.
Dunhill. This one is so good. So is this one. Okay, not going to keep you here all day.
Hermès. You know what it is. I can’t even find actual listings for these on the website.
Not-so-leather options
Still some leather trim on most of these (currently: all of these, let me know if you have a leather-free option that doesn’t suck)
Bilykirk. $200.
Filson — has a reputation for being a true buy-it-for-life bag, although I’ve heard tell the quality has declined in recent years.
Bleu de Chauffe, again. And again, they lean workwearish, canvas and whatnot. I have one of those bags. I like it. Well-made. Magnetic snap button on the back pouch thing, which is really nice. I think of it as more casual than a briefcase, but also, who cares, people wear backpacks to legal offices in 2026, nobody cares if your bag is casual.
This one from Kobashi Studio via Red Cast Heritage. It’s Japanese.
RRL. Yeah, also leans rugged, a lot of these are gonna lean rugged.
Hermès. You can actually buy this one! Well, depending on how much you have in your bank account...
Alright, I found a few great secondhand options on eBay and other sites, so the section below is going to be for paid subs only. You know you can give a gift subscription though, right? Find a man who needs a briefcase and send him a hint.