One of the best things about being involved in this blogging community is that you never know who you are going to meet along the way. That is certainly the case with our friend Tom from Aligata leather. Shortly after the iPad was released, I did a review of a number of iPad folio cases. Shortly thereafter we received an email from Tom. He told us he was designing a simple but premium leather folio for the iPad, and he wanted to know if we wanted to take a look. Shortly thereafter Judie and I received sample of them. We were impressed by the cases, but even more impressed with Tom. He is one of those perfectionists who truly takes pride in what he does. One example of this is the fact that in the months after we first received the Folio samples he made small, incremental upgrades based on ours, and others, feedback. You can check out that review here, and Judie’s review of the Aligata sleeve for iPhone 4 right here.
At the time Tom had one product, the iPad folio, but what a difference a few months makes! As you can see from the above image, Aligata has expanded its offerings significantly. All of his products are made from premium leather, and all have been meticulously designed by Thomas.
We wanted to bring just three to your attention, since we will be getting review samples shortly and… well, we are excited!
First there is the Aligata Premium Leather Weekend Bag. It is big, beautiful and looks to be a great bag if you are going on an overnight runaway. Here’s how Tom describes it:
Pure elegance- Beautiful weekend bag, handmade of premium, thick, natural grain, black dyed through bovine leather. It has extremely elegant look. Thanks to its color, it is almost stainproof.
Probably you have never seen such a beautiful, elegant and durable weekend bag. It is perfect for not too long journeys.
Best material available- The Bag is made of premium bovine leather, 3 – 4 mm (0.12 – 0.16 in.) thick. The surface is natural grain (unmodified). The tanning process is totally natural, plant.
Of course, this is the same type of leather used in other Aligata Black Espresso products: iPad cases, iPad envelopes, MacBook envelopes, MacBook Air envelopes, Kindle covers, iPhone sleeves.
The lining inside the bag is waterproof.
Dimensions and Weight:
Very spacious, 480 mm width, 310 mm height, 250 mm deep (19” x 12” x 10”).When you pack it, unfasten the two side buckles. The bag is a little bigger then, 480 mm width, 360 mm height, 250 mm deep (19” x 14.2” x 10”).
There is a big side pocket inside, closed with a zipper. It is big enough for a MacBook 15.4”.
This Weekend Bag is entirely made of premium, thick bovine leather. It weights almost 1.9 kg (4.2 LBS). Since the leather is natural grain, the weight may vary +/- 10%.
The bag has an MSRP of $449.00. That may sound like a high price but this is a leather overnight bag that will last… and last… and last. More details can be found here.
Next up is the Aligata Premium Leather Kindle 3 Cover.
I love using my Kindle 3 without the added weight of a cover. That makes a slip case the perfect solution for carrying it. Tom recently released his version of the Kindle 3 slip case and it look great. It is handmade of premium, thick, natural grain, dyed through bovine leather. and is, “of course, this is the same type of leather used in other Aligata products:”
As Tom explains, “This cover has been carefully designed to add as little bulk to your Kindle 3 as possible. Its outer dimensions are: 230mm x 144mm x 15 mm (9” x 5.50” x 0.50”).”
The $49.90 case is available in a number of colors. More information and ordering can be found here.
Finally there is the new product I am most excited about, the Aligata Leather Messenger / Notebook Bag.
I love leather, I love messenger bags, I love cases that come in dark, rich black leather … and I can’t wait to get my hands on this!!
You can check out all of Aligata’s offerings over on Tom’s site; you can also enter to win in Aligata’s Twitter contest, which is going on now. Tom is giving away $1700 in prizes, and even if you don’t want to enter, you can still get 10% off your order!