Here’s my Maverick & Co. Metropolitan Business Backpack Review. When the guys at Maverick & Co. got in touch to ask if I’d like to check out one of their bags, I jumped at the chance! I’ve recently reviewed the HAWQ High Flyer, so with that fresh in my mind and considering they’re similarly priced I thought it’d make for a good comparison.
SPOILER: The sleek, stylish and minimalist Metropolitan Business Backpack is easily the best backpack I’ve ever reviewed on the blog by some distance. It may not fit everyone’s particular use case, but it certainly worked for me and my day to day business / personal needs.
It’s made using Saffiano leather, which gives a clue as to who it’s marketed towards. It’s aimed at business people who want an extremely well made, luxurious backpack that will not look out of place in an office or casual environment. I’ve used it in the office and also for popping into town for some new boot laces and a toothbrush!
So, without further ado let’s get into the review and find out if the Metropolitan Business Backpack is as good as I thought it would be.
Maverick & Co. Metropolitan Business Backpack Review
The Maverick & Co. Metropolitan Business Backpack is a great looking backpack that has some truly premium features, such as the double velvet fabric internal lining and the stamped polished zippers. I’ll start my detailed thoughts as I usually do, with my first impressions.
First Impressions
When the parcel arrived, the outer box was slightly damaged but, as it was extremely well packaged the internal branded box didn’t suffer the same fate. It arrived in pristine factory fresh condition.
The number one packaging spot did belong to the HAWQ High Flyer but not anymore! The Maverick & Co. Metropolitan backpack has firmly taken that crown, it’s simply sublime.
Opening up the shipping packaging I was met with a pristine, high shine white box. The clean, minimalist but super high quality packaging works for brands like Apple, so I was pleased to see a similarly well executed package design by Maverick & Co. Opening up the white box you’re greeted with a white cloth bag that protects the leather bag.
Removing the backpack from it’s protective cloth bag I was wowed with how it looked. I’d assumed it was a smooth leather, but its not. It’s a full grain textured leather. Photographs on their website did a decent job of showing how beautiful this bag is, but it looks so much better in person.
You can tell each element of the entire unboxing process has been methodically thought out. It definitely gives you that premium feel. And it’s that premium feel which leaves you with a lasting first impression.
What’s striking about the design is that, yes it is minimalist but at the same time it looks striking, it definitely stands out from your average bag.
Single Use Plastic
There was a tiny amount of single use plastic used in the packaging of the bag. The polished silver feet had plastic stickers on them to prevent scratching. I think these could easily be replaced with recycled paper ones to improve the environmental impact of this bag. But, it’s great to see there was hardly any single use plastic at all!
In terms of my first impressions. I really like the bag and I hope that it’s great in other areas of my review too. So, let’s now take a look at the build quality and feature set.
Build Quality & Features
It’s a fairly minimalist backpack but it has a decent feature set, which does make this a good option for business users that want something that’s super fashionable, but doesn’t sacrifice much in terms of function.
My first impression of the build quality suggested that this would tick all of the boxes when figuring out if something is well made or not. So, I’ll look at all of the components individually, this will allow to me make an accurate and fair overall score assessment.
Stitching
In a word, perfect. It really is, at least on the bag I was sent. I meticulously tried to find a dropped stitch or a loose thread; I was unable to. The quality control is great and I didn’t expect anything less to be totally honest due to the first impressions.
Zips & Zippers
You can’t help but notice the polished stamped zips. They look superb and really are a statement. They don’t just look good, they’re really well made too. I always like to put review items through their paces. And these zips wouldn’t get off lightly.
I wanted to simulate a few years zipper use in just a few minutes! So I pulled, yanked, twisted and bent them like a madman! I also got out my pen knife and tried to scratch the polished finish with the sharp tip.
The good news is that it’s really really strong. I mean, the goal with my test was to try and break it. And I really did try but I was unable to. They’re super high quality and I have every confidence that those zips are designed to last.
But, where there is good news bad often follows. And, unfortunatley this is the case with the polished surface of the zip. They do scratch really easily. I only used surface pressure when running the tip of my knife over it and it left a fairly obvious scratch mark.
Now, in the real world most zips won’t suffer the same stabbing fate. But it’s something to keep in mind, don’t go and just throw the bag in the trunk of your car for example.
Handle & Straps
I was going to keep this section really short as I thought I wouldn’t have much to talk about. But, I was genuinely in awe of the quality of the handles and straps.
I literally tried to rip the handle off of the top of the bag to test the strength of the stitches. I failed, I failed miserably. I tried really hard and I wasn’t even able to tear or stretch just one stitch.
The handle is made with the same Saffiano leather as the main body. It’s just rolled into a handle shape, which has the affect of making it really strong. It looks fantastic too thanks to the use of metal ringlets that attach to the double folded, double stitched leather mounting points.
Now coming to the straps. They’re made with a really strong and comfortable padded nylon. Even when I filled the bag full of tech it was still comfortable to wear.
They’re really easy to adjust the size to suit your individual needs. And, they certainly aren’t your run of the mill straps, they’ve really thought about the aesthetic. The polished metal buckles make sure you realise that! They’ve also added a nylon loop to keep the excess strap tidy, preventing it from ruining the clean, smooth look of the backpack.
Sizing, Storage & Usability
The Metropolitan measures up at just 31 cm (L) x 40 cm (W) x 9 cm (D). Whilst the sizing doesn’t make it the largest backpack on the market, it does have just enough room for your everyday business essentials.
For my review I wanted to test just how much I could fit in the backpack. This would allow me to test if I was able to work away from my home office without affecting my productivity. This would mean I’d need to carry the following to get my work done:
- 1 x Surface Laptop
- 1 x iPad Air
- 1 x Apple Pencil
- 1 x Pen
- 1 x A5 Notepad
- 1 x Syncwire Gadget Bag
- 1 x Pack Facemasks
- 1 x 500ml Bottle Water
- 1 x Laptop Charger
- 1 x Portable Charger
I was able to fit all of my things into the bag with a bit of room to spare. I did notice that as the bag is brand new, the leather is still quite stiff. This means when the bag is full, trying to pull your laptop out of the double velvet lined sleeve can be a bit challenging. I think this’ll get easier as time goes by and the leather gets a bit more supple. But, in the interest of openness it’s worth calling out.
External Compartments
There is just one front compartment. It’s quite a tight fit so you can only really keep thin items in it. For me, I used it to store a pack of face masks and a couple of receipts. They were easy to add and retrieve, but I don’t think you’ll be able to fit something like a notepad in that front pocket without it looking bulky. So, I didn’t bother. I didn’t want to ruin that clean, smooth look.
I almost nearly forgot to mention, as that front pocket only has a magnetic closure, I personally wouldn’t store anything of value in that compartment.
Internal Compartments
There’s a good amount of internal compartments. The main compartment is accessed via the 2-way zip. I just wish that the zip went all the way to the bottom to make it a little easier to add and retrieve things from the bag.
Aside from the main compartment theres the laptop pocket. It’ll fit up to a 13″ inch laptop. But, it feels like it has a bit of extra room so you could probably go up to 13.5″ although you can try that at your own risk.
The laptop pocket is a snug fit overall and has sufficient padding at the bottom of the pocket. This’ll help protect your laptop should you drop it. I wouldn’t worry about damaging your tech though as the bag feels really sturdy. The Saffiano leather construction offers extra protection over just a cloth cotton one for example. This is purely due to the sturdiness of the leather. It should absorb any impacts and not transfer them through to your laptop.
An improvement opportunity is available here though. Maverick & Co. could suspend the bottom of the laptop pocket just above the bottom of the bag, a minuscule amount of just 5mm would add so much more protection from drops without affecting the usability of the bag.
The next compartment is the mobile phone pocket. It’s slightly different to other backpacks as it’s a horizontal pocket. This also makes it large enough to accommodate a 7 inch tablet / e-reader.
There’s also two pen holders which serve their purpose and don’t offer anything unique. They’re large enough to accommodate a ballpoint pen, thin HB pencil or Apple Pencil with ease.
Any Complaints?
Two complaints but they’re really small. The first, which I touched on above is the main compartment opening. It’d make it a lot easier if the zipper went all the way down the body of the bag. This would allow the bag to open fully and make it easier to insert and remove things from the bag.
The second one is that the internal laptop compartment doesn’t really need a button closure. It’s quite a tight squeeze anyway and I’m not sure it’s needed.
They’re really small complaints and you may not feel that they are issues at all. But I do feel strongly enough about them to ensure I cover it here in the review. I genuinely feel like it’d improve the bag with the resolution of those two small issues.
Where Can I Buy One?
The Maverick & Co. Metropolitan Business Backpack is available to buy direct from their official website. You can visit their website by clicking here.
Summary and Verdict
This bag is fantastic. I really wanted to give it a 10 but due to the two tiny issues I noted above, I knocked off half a point. I think if those issues are resolved it would definitely be a 10/10 backpack.
It does everything Maverick & Co. have said it’d do and then some. The quality does really have to be seen to be believed. As I mentioned above, it may not fit everyone’s individual needs but for me, it’s almost perfect.
In comparison to the HAWQ High Flyer, it’s miles ahead in every conceivable way.
Score: 9.5 / 10
Thanks a lot to Maverick & Co. for sending out the backpack for review, go check them out.
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