The iconic Gladstone bag is defined by its hand built frame and closure system, representing the ultimate in Swaine Adeney hand crafting.  Employing the finest hand-finished materials and individually created in our Cambridge workshop by a single craftsman, each Gladstone bag is a timeless, unique piece of English heritage.

Features:

• Hand-finished traditional English bridle leather, tanned with natural plant extracts
• An environmentally-conscious leather, with a superior depth and richness that improves with maturity.
• Brass hardware and locks, cast and hand polished to a satin finish in England. In employing these traditional processes, both the natural grandeur and strength of the brass is retained.
• Full bridle leather, custom-made, wrap-around-straps are fitted with solid English brass buckles, to add additional security and definition to the Gladstone.
• Hand-riveted, bridle leather corner reinforcements guarantee durability and longevity.
• Featuring the unique slide-locking system for added security.

Did you know?

In the late 19th century, the Gladstone bag was developed as a small portmanteau, built over a rigid frame which could separate into two equal sections. It was made of stiff leather and often belted with lanyards. (Mouse-over the image on the left to see the fine leather belted straps used by Swaine Adeney.)

The bag was named after William E. Gladstone (1809-1898), the four-times British Prime Minister, who travelled greatly. Needless to say, many Ministers of State and historic figures have called at 54 St James's Street, to travel in style with a piece of Swaine Adeney luggage.

In J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" (1951) the character Holden Caulfield packs Gladstone bags when he leaves Pencey Prep. Salinger's own war-time experiences with kit bags may have prompted him to think of Gladstone bags.

Oscar Wilde refers to the Gladstone bag in his "Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) "What a way for a fashionable painter to travel," exclaims Dorian "...a Gladstone bag and an Ulster!" citing two fashionable pieces of Victorian luggage.