Carry what endures.
For one hundred years and four, Bodypack & Co. has quietly furnished the wardrobes of clerks, captains, and travelling gentlefolk. Each piece is hand-stitched in our Antwerp workshop from the heaviest English bridle and the same saddle thread used by the British cavalry since the reign of the late Queen. Nothing leaves our bench until it has been turned, pressed, and approved by a maker whose initials are scored into the lining.
- Founded
- 1924, Antwerp
- Hides
- English bridle
- Stitch
- Saddle-sewn, by hand
— The Catalogue —
Six pieces, made to outlast the season.
A working library of the pieces most often ordered by post. Each is offered in three hides — chestnut, tan, and black — and may be inscribed, on request, with up to seven characters in our small gilt foil.
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№ 01
$245 Order →The Satchel
A working man's bag — single gusset, two interior pockets, solid brass buckle.
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№ 02
$285 Order →The Antwerp
Structured tote that disappears under the arm. Magnetic throat, key tether.
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№ 03
$430 Order →The Tokyo Daypack
A 21-litre daypack with a padded 16-inch sleeve and magnetic throat.
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№ 04
$520 Order →The Gladstone
The doctor's bag, reissued. Split frame, steel feet, full-grain lining.
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№ 05
$310 Order →The Saddle
A messenger cut from the pattern of an English police saddle. One strap, one gusset.
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№ 06
$395 Order →The Holdall
A weekend bag sized for two nights and a change of shoes. Steel-bound handles.
Postage paid on all orders within the Continent. A printed catalogue will be sent, gratis, upon written request.
— The Workshop —
Hand-stitched.
Slow-made.
We make nothing in haste. A single satchel passes through eleven pairs of hands before it is approved for dispatch — cut, split, edged, burnished, pegged, stitched, hammered, waxed, inked, polished, and signed. The workshop at Vrijdagmarkt 14 is open to visitors on Thursdays, between two and five.
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I.
The Hides
English bridle, vegetable-tanned in Walsall for fourteen months. We will not use chrome.
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II.
The Stitch
Saddle-sewn by hand with linen thread, waxed in the workshop, two stitches per centimetre.
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III.
The Hardware
Solid brass, sand-cast in Birmingham. Buckles, rivets, and feet — nothing plated, nothing pressed.
— Initials scored into every lining since 1924.
— Dispatches —
From our customers, in their own hand.
My Antwerp arrived on the morning train, packed in brown paper and twine. The bridle is so heavy it stands upright on the desk. My wife has already asked for one in black.
I have carried the Gladstone to four continents. The split frame still closes with the same soft click it had the day it was delivered. I shall not require another.
A bag of this weight ought to be sent with two straps. It is not. It is sent with one, and the one is enough.
— Mail-Order Catalogue —
Write to us.
Orders are taken by letter, by telegram, and by telephone between the hours of nine and five, Antwerp time. We regret that we are unable to despatch by post to addresses outside the Continent.
Bodypack & Co.Vrijdagmarkt 14, Antwerpen
orders@bodypack.co
+32 3 232 0014