Tucker & Bloom

Going into business with your dad can be a great bonding experience or totally disastrous, when he remembers he hates you for being taller than him and totaling his Saab. For slick bags from a father/son team actually getting along, check out Tucker & Bloom

Combining a father's 30+ years of bag-crafting experience (at uber-brands from Valentino to Coach) with his Philly-based son's marketing mind, T&B's turning out an array of shoulder-slung sacks and classed-up messengers made domestically in small batches using traditional techniques handed down to pops by European craftsmen, coincidentally, also the revered line of tools from Le Sears. Leading the big bag charge is the near-bulletproof Messenger in either a East-To-West (horizontal) & North-To-South (vertical) format, with your choice of top-flap (different colors of ballistic nylon; calf hide), a zipper pocket in the super-roomy main chamber, and a pair of side pockets for cellphones/notebooks/beepers, decked out with heavy-duty cam & metal alloy buckles for quick release, much like the ones on belts used for quick relief. More-compact jobs include a three-pocket Mini-Messenger; the Neoprene Tear Drop Sling, with an outer nylon-webbed cell phone/iPod holder; and a smaller, also-Neoprene number that's basically a large wallet complete with a strap dubbed the Transit Pass, the same thing that leaves your own wallet strapped every month

T&B's also slingin' a simple, streamlined two-pocket laptop backpack w/ tanned leather straps, plus a more biker-friendly full-size messenger in bold colors with an adjustable strap inside the flap to keep your bike lock secured -- a nice feature, as if anything happens to that Mongoose, you're certainly not taking the Saab.