Here's what my black greasy Derbies look like after a quick polish. I like to keep them a medium shine so they're somewhere in between the matte finish and the hi-shine. To me, the greasy leather out of the box is too dull and the hi-shine are too shiny (plus, I avoid the plastic coating), so this is the perfect balance. I just use Saphir black polish and a horsehair brush.
Every day, they find new ways to make themselves less of a viable POD service.
I loathe Walmart and generally avoid buying anything from them, but they had Kanken Slings on sale at an irresistible discount, so I bought one. But when it arrived, I could tell it was fake (fabric clearly wasn't Vinylon, logo was incorrect, etc.) so I returned it, then went straight to my local Fjallraven store and bought a real one a full retail.
I thought I could trust a big retailer to vet their products, but it turns out they allow 3rd party sellers and don't give them much oversight so they can get away with selling counterfeit products.
This is the Walmart product page in question: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Black-Fjallraven-Kanken-Sling-Crossbody-Shoulder-Bag-For-Everyday-Use-Travel-Backpack-Height-7-8-in-2-5-L/20049273924
Notice that they use Fjallraven Stock photos so the bags look legit, but if you look at the photo of what I received, you'll see the telltale detached diacritical "o" from the "A" in the logo.
Lesson learned--from now on, I'm just going to the Fjallraven store.
... just another reason to hate Walmart!
I just bought another Classic Kanken, this time, in Super Grey. I also got the Seat Pad, which I highly recommend. It's larger and far more rigid than the stock pad that comes with the bag, so it keeps the shape much better and makes the pack feel less floppy--definitely worth the $15 investment. I'm going to pick up another pad for my 15" Laptop bag too.
For those that are wondering, yes, the M2 Mackbook Air 13.6" laptop will fit in the 13" Kanken Laptop bag. I had read that it's a "tight fit", but I brought mine to the Denver Fjallraven store today to try it out and it actually fits perfectly. It's not tight at all and there's even a little room to spare. I just thought I'd share for others with the same question I had.
I have a Classic Kanken, but felt it would be much easier to get through the airport security lines with a dedicated laptop pocket. So I just picked up the 15" Laptop Kanken in black at my local Fjallraven store. I was torn between the Super Grey and Black, but my Classic is graphite, so I decided to go for something different. Besides, the black will eventually fade a little to more of a dark grey (I really like the black's patina I've seen in online photos). Can't wait to pack this up!
I placed a sample order 12 days ago so I could check the print quality before I went live with my new Etsy shop. The order has been "in production" for 9 days. I contacted Printify and they said they'd speak to the printer. They got back to me and simply apologized for the delay, offered to refund the shipping fees, and told me to just wait. Now my launch is delayed. Unacceptable!
After reading feedback from other sellers, I've decided to switch all my printing to Monster. They seem to have a good reputation, but now I have to order samples from them before I launch. Pretty frustrating.
This is just a warning to new sellers: avoid Printify Choice and do some research to manually select the best print shop for you.
