Métier’s Passerby North-South Tote Checks All My Boxes

I honestly thought everything on my list of criteria would be easy to find. The material needed to stand up to a little rain—I’m a New Yorker sans car, after all—and still accrue a beautiful patina over time. It had to have straps long enough to fit over my shoulders, and they had to be cut wide to evenly distribute the weight of the contents. And, perhaps most importantly, it had to have a way to keep everything inside. Sadly, I am a clumsy, inelegant oaf. I am always dropping things. More than once while attempting to deplane, I’ve had the contents of my hand luggage spill into the aisle, frustrating the rest of the business-class cabin while I got on hands and knees to collect my belongings.

And yet, after years of searching, I was still coming up short.

The hunt started in 2021, as the return-to-office movement began in earnest. For a long time before the pandemic, I’d used a wax-dipped canvas holdall made by a defunct American accessories brand. I loved that bag. It traveled the world with me, received scads of compliments, and survived jobs at three men’s magazines. So, when one of the handles broke during my first week of hybrid work, I was crestfallen.

Fortunately, fashion has experienced something of a manbag renaissance in recent years. Chalk it up to how busy guys’ lives have gotten, loosening gender norms, or the simple fact that pockets are inadequate for modern life’s necessities. It’s why high-profile types including LeBron James and Erling Haaland are carrying models marketed to women. (See also: A$AP Rocky’s collection of Chanel flap bags, Jacob Elordi’s Bottega Veneta Maxi, and the Hermès Birkins toted by Pharrell Williams, Marc Jacobs, and the N.F.L.’s Joe Burrow.) The trend is so prevalent that earlier this year, InStyle declared that “the big, bitchy boy bag is here to stay.”

With more choices than ever, I turned to friends to help narrow the list. One very good pal, whose taste I trust implicitly, recommended the Hermès Garden Party, but I worried that its single-snap closure wouldn’t be enough to keep my items secure. I had the same problem when I borrowed my sister’s Louis Vuitton Neverfull—an undeniable classic, but a spill risk because of its wide-open construction. Another friend swears by his Lotuff Leather Working Tote, equipped with a beautiful zipper, but I was concerned that its roughout-leather interior would leave tiny crumbs of cowhide all over my notebooks.

Shopping, usually a soothing balm for me, got somewhat frustrating. I loved the delicious leather of Tom Ford’s North South tote, but the straps were so long that it almost hit the ground when I carried it by hand. Canali’s calfskin tote bag had the opposite problem: straps too short to make it all the way to the top of my shoulder. At Prada, I tried a nappa-leather model with two sets of straps: a short one for your hand and a longer one to go over your arm. Ultimately, I found switching back and forth to be somewhat fussy. I got close to perfection at Tod’s, whose shopping-bag style has a central zippered compartment, but I worried that the belted closure for the two open sides might let things slip out.

Finally, like Goldilocks slipping into bed No. 3, I found one that fit just right. At Métier, the British leather-goods maker that opened a New York City store earlier this year, the Passerby North-South ($2,950) won my loyalty. Cut from a lightly grained buffalo leather called Elvis, the bag is brilliantly equipped with dedicated pockets for a laptop and AirPods. The gussets get a bit of structure with interior and exterior pockets that close with magnets, which gives you somewhere to put your keys day-to-day. It has a fabric lining, unlike so many of the other options, which is going to be a lot easier to clean when I inevitably spill something inside it. And to my unfailing delight, a sturdy zipper purrs every time I pull the thing closed.

But what sealed the deal was the care card, which proclaims, “We also offer a yearly checkup service to give your Métier special attention to promote its longevity.” It’s a confident proclamation from a brand that’s only nine years old, and great news for me personally. I plan to have this thing for a long, long time.

Top: Métier’s Passerby North-South tote bag has a full-zip closure, sturdy handles, and plenty of pockets. $2,950

Robb Reviews

Four stellar men’s tote bags that came close to the writer’s (very high) standards.

Tom Ford

Natural Leather North South Tote, $5,090

Prada

Nappa Leather Tote Bag, $5,100

Tod’s

Large Shopping Bag in Leather, $3,575

Canali

Hammered Calfskin Tote Bag, $1,725