NemeN Joel Messenger Bag

The interesting decision on this bag is where the pockets are. Most messenger bags put their small storage inside, under the flap, where you have to open the whole bag to reach a set of keys. This one builds zipped pockets into the outer flap itself and gives them enough depth to stand away from the face of the bag, so they read as three-dimensional forms rather than as slits. What that buys is practical and slightly unusual: the things you need every twenty minutes live on the outside, and the thing you need twice a day, the laptop, lives in a dedicated compartment at the back. The cloth is the same cotton-nylon that NemeN cuts its parachute trousers from, at 73 percent cotton and 27 percent nylon, which gives a bag a body that dry technical nylon does not have. It creases like cloth, sits against the hip like cloth, and takes a knock like nylon.

Sizing and dimensions

We do not hold measurements for this bag. What the record does establish is the capacity question a buyer actually asks: it is built around a laptop compartment, so it is sized to a machine rather than to a notebook, and the flap pockets add carry without adding depth to the main body.

We wanted a bag that could carry a laptop without looking like it was designed around one. This one solves the pocketing on the outside instead of the inside, which is the difference between a bag you open constantly and a bag you open twice.

NemeN builds most of its work out of a small number of developed cloths, and this bag is what happens when the parachute cloth is asked to hold a shape instead of a leg.

Seventy-three percent cotton and 27 percent nylon. Large messenger construction, with three-dimensional zipped pockets set into the outer flap and an internal laptop compartment. Color: Grey. Made in Italy, which is worth saying because the trousers cut from this same cloth are not.

Against the Rise Multipocket Parachute Pant, which is the same cloth, for the most literal version of the idea. Against the 3L Sphere Shell Jacket when the day needs a shell. Worn across the body rather than on one shoulder, since the flap pockets are only usable if the flap is facing forward.

Nylon at just over a quarter sets the ceiling for this cloth, so keep it away from heat: no hot wash, no tumble dryer, and no direct iron. Spot clean rather than immersing a bag with a laptop compartment in it. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The Puf _ Multipocket Parachute Short is the same cotton and nylon cloth cut short, with ripstop detailing, and the Nover Quilted Liner is nylon quilted over a fill. Everything we carry from NemeN is listed together.