Floto – the Older the Better

By far the favorite bag that I have carried over the years is the Parma Duffle.  To properly test the Parma I put it through a rigorous 5 year challenge – making countless trips to Italy and Europe. I always made sure to check it, toss it and kick it.  My old apartment in the West Village was a walk up – and on several occasions I had too much to carry and kicked it down 3 flights of stairs.  To my surprise, every time the bag was fine. 

Parma is a naked leather that has been lightly tanned with chestnut extracts.  It is similar to a baseball glove in that it will darken with use.  To help protect the leather from stains and extend the life of the bag I used liberal amounts of leather conditioner annually on it.  Any leather conditioner that we sell (or similar wax / cream base) will work on our Parma leather.  

To capture the beauty and patina of the Parma Duffle I commissioned artist Selene De Condat to shoot my trusted Param Duffle in Paris. 

The Parma Collection is the very top of our leather line and is handcrafted from premium full grain Italian calfskin.  We do not use any chemicals to make our Parma leather – it’s leather tanning the natural way. To make a Parma bag we start by selecting the leather hides with the least amount of blemishes.  Next, we tumble the hides in drums with chestnut extract and natural oils. The result is a soft, natural leather that will get better as it ages – each bag takes on a unique look and darkens like a saddle over time.

#theolderthebetter