How to Write a Custom Order Brief for a Handmade Leather Bag

A bespoke bag begins as a conversation, and most of that conversation happens in writing. The clearer your brief, the fewer surprises when the parcel arrives — no bag that is almost right, no leather a shade warmer than you imagined. You do not need a designer's vocabulary to brief a maker well. You need to describe what you carry, how you like things to feel, and the small details only you would notice.

Begin With the Job the Bag Has to Do

Before leather, before colour, describe the bag's working life. Will it be carried daily on a commute, or twice a year at weddings? Does it need to hold a laptop, a folded umbrella, a water bottle, reading glasses, a travel card? Does it hang from a pushchair handle or go in a bike basket? Will it be shoved under an aeroplane seat?

A maker reads those answers and starts making decisions: a reinforced base for weight, an adjustable strap that clears a winter coat, a flap rather than a zip if you need to reach in one-handed. Write it in plain sentences. I want a shoulder bag for work that holds a 14-inch laptop, a notebook and a water bottle, and that I can carry all day without it digging in. That one sentence tells a leatherworker more than three paragraphs about grain.

Naming Leather, Lining and Hardware

If you already know the terms, use them. If you don't, describe what you can see and feel. A useful checklist:

• Type and finish — smooth, pebbled, suede or hair-on; a full-grain leather that keeps its natural marks, or a corrected grain that hides them.
• Tannage and ageing — vegetable-tanned leather darkens with light and handling; chrome-tanned leather stays closer to its original colour; oil-pull leather lightens where it bends.
• Thickness — usually given in millimetres. Light for linings, heavier for straps and bases.
• Lining — suede, pigskin, cotton canvas, or none at all.
• Hardware — solid brass, nickel, antique brass or gunmetal; buckles, rings, zips, and whether a zip should be metal or nylon.
• Thread — tonal for a quiet finish, contrast for a visible stitch line.

When the name escapes you, compare instead: “the flat matte one with no shine”, “soft and slightly waxy”, “the sort that marks if you catch it with a fingernail”. Good makers will recognise the leather you mean, or suggest something close.

Dimensions: Give Numbers, Then Give Context

Numbers are the least ambiguous part of a brief, so use them. Ask for external measurements in centimetres, and cover the whole shape:

1. Width, height and depth of the finished bag.
2. Strap drop — the distance from the top of the strap to the top of the bag — at its shortest and longest settings.
3. Handle drop, if there is a grab handle as well as a strap.
4. Interior pockets: how many, where, and what each must hold (a phone, a passport, a pen, cards).
5. Whether the base should be reinforced so the bag stands up on its own.

The quickest way to get this right is to measure a bag you already own and like. Lay it flat, note the figures, then say what you would change: “the same as this, but 3 cm wider with a strap 10 cm shorter.” A maker can work from a sketch, but they cannot guess where your shoulder sits.

Colour, Described Three Ways

Colour is where briefs most often go wrong, because words mean different things to different people. “Tan” can be pale and honeyed or deep and reddish. Describe every colour three ways:

• The name plus a reference — “oxblood: wine-leaning, not a bright cherry red”.
• The undertone and finish — matte or glossy, warm or cool, burnished edges or raw.
• A physical sample, if you can — ask the maker to post a swatch, or send a photograph taken in daylight beside a sheet of white paper.

Screens mislead. A shade checked on a phone at night looks different the next morning. If the exact colour matters, hold the swatch against the coat you wear most. Say how the parts should work together, too: leather, lining, thread and hardware. If you want a red lining that only you will see, mention it. If the metal must not clash with a favourite watch, mention the metal.

Personalisation: Say Exactly What You Want Stamped

Personalisation is small and permanent, so spell it out in full:

• The exact characters, including capitals, accents, punctuation and spacing — “A. J. M.” rather than “initials”.
• The method: hot foil in gold or silver, blind debossing pressed into the leather with no colour, or hand-stamped letters.
• Font and size. A fine serif and a plain block letter stamp differently at 8 mm.
• Placement, precisely: centred on the front panel, 2 cm below the flap edge, inside the lid, or along the strap.
• Orientation: vertical or horizontal, and which way up.

Ask about placement before you commit, and ask to see the mark pressed into an offcut first. A stamp that slips is usually there for good.

A Short Brief That Says Everything

A shoulder bag for daily use, roughly 30 cm wide, 24 cm high and 9 cm deep, with a strap adjustable between 45 cm and 55 cm drop. Full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather in a warm mid-brown; matte, no shine. Natural suede lining, tonal stitching, solid antique brass hardware. One main compartment, one flat interior pocket for a phone, one zipped pocket at the back. Base reinforced so the bag stands. My initials, R. K., blind-debossed inside the flap, centred, 8 mm letters.

That is about 100 words, and it answers nearly everything a maker needs to quote and plan. It also leaves room for their judgement on stitch length and edge finishing, which is usually where the craft lives.

Send It, Then Expect a Few Questions

Put the brief in one message or document rather than scattering it through a chat thread. Number your points so the maker can reply to each in turn, and ask them to confirm back the leather, measurements, personalisation, timeline and deposit before work starts.

Expect pushback, and welcome it. If you ask for a soft unstructured bag to carry a laptop, or a single thin strap for a heavy load, a good leatherworker will tell you why it will not wear well and offer an alternative. That is not obstruction; it is the difference between a bag that lasts and one that sags by spring.

If the commission is a significant sum, keep the agreed brief, the deposit and the timeline in writing, and check the maker's cancellation terms before paying. A brief is not a way of controlling someone's craft. It is how you end up with a bag that fits your life, and how they get to make something they are proud to put their stamp on.

Photo: SplitShire / Pixabay