How did you first discover Tom Bihn bags?

My search for US-made bags way back in 2007 led me to Tom Bihn. Initially, a couple of friends were trying to get me on Spire and Manhattan Portage, but a quick search (and a couple of calls) confirmed that both companies no longer have their bags made in Colorado and NY respectively but rather outsourced and I started thinking generally that was the case. Determined to find my ideal bag for my then brand new MBP, I went on lurking at the Apple forums and the discussion about the best laptop bags came up with Tom Bihn and Made in the USA being mentioned in the same sentence along with the now famous care instructions in French, “NOUS SOMMES DESOLES QUE NOTRE PRESIDENT SOIT UN IDIOT. NOUS N'AVONS PAS VOTE POUR LUI.” that everyone seemed very amused to find, almost like an urban legend. My heart leapt at the prospect of purchasing The Super Ego and a call to TB confirmed they are indeed made in Seattle. The rest was history and my love affair with the company and evangelism for it's products continues to this day ;)

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Originally Posted by tbessie

I searched some more, and did indeed find some references to hum/hah on British sites, but hem/haw still seems to be the master. I wonder if it's dying out due to American TV influence.

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I doubt whether many Gen Y / Millennials in the UK would know what either term means. So I'm not surprised that there are few references to hum and hah these days. There's one other possibility - my British English vocabulary is a snapshot of my '80s education and early-mid '90s work experience. It's a time capsule, as I haven't been exposed to the new vernacular day-to-day since '96. I'm sure I'd be considered a fuddy-duddy by teens and 20-somethings over there today, if only they knew what that term meant :-)

(Edited for spelling. Spolchika failed on me.)

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Originally Posted by Fat Crip

Lotuseater, keep undermining the colonials from the inside

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I consider it my little act of subversion to introduce quirky Britishisms (I'd say Anglicisms, but that would exclude the Caledonian influence) into every meeting, just so I can check who's actually listening. I'm sure some consider me strange, but I find it helps my message be more memorable. And I do get a kick out of the bemusement on some folks' faces :-)

I've introduced too much thread-drift already. Back to our regularly scheduled (pronounced shed, not sked, if you please) programming...

In early 2008, after knitting compulsively for about eight years, I decided I qualified as a "serious" knitter and that it was high time I replaced my mish-mash of needles and notions with a proper set of tools. My knitting bag (one of those wooden-frame canvas things, designed to be both ugly and difficult to take anywhere) was not going to make the cut, so I started looking around and came across a review of the Swift. The bag seemed suitable, but to be honest it was the yarn stuff sack that really caught my eye. My Swift and stuff sack arrived, and things kind of snowballed from there.

Mid-2000s, I decided that I wanted a big bag for traveling with. I had started reading up on the one bag philosophy and Tom Bihn was one of the brands recommended. I did go back-and-forth (hemming and hawing ;)) between a few, all of which were very similarly priced, well-built, and made in the USA. The company I work for likes to arrange discounts from other companies as an employee perk. Well, at the time, Tom Bihn was offering a rare discount to us and that helped tip me over in their favor.

What tips me over now is the sheer quality and design of Tom Bihn's products (that rare discount long gone). My Aeronaut has lasted through over 6 years of abuse, including trips through National Parks, backpacking through Europe, and just being stuffed to the gills for all sorts of reasons. I own a Synapse as well, which is my general daypack, and a Smart Alec w/ Brain Bag as my daily carry for work.

My backpack was a gift from my mom. Love my mom!!!

I discovered Tom Bihn when I was looking for products (any products please) that were made in America. Stumbled across a website AmericansWorking.com under the luggage section and there it was. Up until then I had been buying cheaper luggage and bags for travel and they kept breaking or just did not work right. The rest is history Tom Bihn rules.

I first heard about Tom Bihn a few months ago on EDC Forums. At first I wasn't too interested because I was more interested in "tactical" styled backpacks, but the unique styles and the fact they are made in the USA really drew me in. I wish I had discovered a few years ago before went out and bought all new luggage for the whole family.

I found the Tom Bihn website in 2008 when searching for a solution to my two-bag everyday carry. I was a teacher and daily carried a laptop "briefcase" with my 15" MacBook Pro and a backpack with everything else. Although I looked at many sites for laptop backpack solutions, I kept coming back to the Tom Bihn site. There were so many positive reviews and the loyalty of the forum members was quite impressive. My husband gave me a Brain Bag, Brain Cell, and Snake Charmer for Christmas that year. My collection has grown substantially since 2008!

My Chief introduced me to Tom Bihn in 2008 when he ordered his Empire Builder. We work in Santa Cruz (Tom's old neighborhood) and I suspect he heard about TB from one of our co-workers or other locals here (I've seen a few TB bags around campus and around town). When I saw the bag, I immediately wanted one, but unfortunately I'd just purchased a new bag a couple weeks before. I did however buy my wife a Brain Bag for Christmas that year, and had serious envy until I finally decided I could justify getting my own Empire Builder about a year and a half ago (and I bought an Aeronaut at the same time to make up for the years of envy).

I'd read about Laptop Lunches when they first came out, and Tom Bihn was the only seller in the Seattle area with any! So I made the trek downtown (the store was on 2nd Ave at the time). Went in, saw the lunch box AND all these nifty, cool, entirely screaming bags which pleaded for me to not leave without one.

How could I resist such a plea?

I saw a blog review on the Citizen Canine and just had to have one. The kiwi and ultraviolet color grabbed me right from the start and as someone who has an enormous amount of dog gear, I wanted to add it to the mess. I just ordered some stuff sacks for my dog training bag to keep all my long lines, handsfree systems, etc. in check. I am a big supporter of USA made products so TB fits right!

I'm pretty sure I read a mention about Tom Bihn in "Macworld" magazine in 2009. This is after I had a disastrous experience with cheap, foreign-made luggage in March of that year. This motivated me to look for high-quality alternatives to the cheap stuff. I found Tom Bihn, logged onto this forum, and got an education. Ironically, I wound up buying a SuperEgo briefcase instead of my dream bag, an Aeronaut. I've had to make due with cheaper luggage since the 2009 trip, but that may change in the near future. I still have my eye on the Aeronaut.

A friend carried a Medium Cafe bag for years. She gifted me with one of her old ones (plum/wasabi) after my purse was stolen as a replacement (she's moved on to a backpack).

These days, the one she gifted me with is now my DSLR bag, and I go between another MCB and the LCB with the same colour scheme. I also own a SCB in cardinal/steel for when I need to travel lighter on work trips, a side effect for when all I need is my wallet and keys and a few other things, a "matched set" of Swift/Little Swift in hemp (I'm considering turning the Little Swift into the bag I use when I'm going to be traveling with my spinning wheel), organizing pouches and keystraps all over the place, and a Smart Alec that I haven't used yet (I just got it) and have the straps and additional pouches for it.

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