Too Cool For School

The backpack is all grown up. Pittsburgh’s Jenny N. designs a sophisticated leather tote perfect for busy professionals.

Note to your seventh-grade self: Backpacks aren’t just for middle-schoolers carrying an overload of homework assignments. They can also look cool — and still be helpful.
 
Pittsburgh-based Jenny Nemlekar is the brainchild behind Jenny N. Design, a line of handmade leather and canvas bags.
 
Nemlekar, who has a degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, sketches each bag before reverse-engineering the design to create a template.
 
Each bag is cut from a leather hide (or a durable canvas); then Nemlekar lines, rivets and sews them on an industrial sewing machine. She sources all materials from U.S. vendors, mostly from states surrounding Pennsylvania.
 
The Jenny N. collection includes totes, clutches, bucket bags and more, but for those who carry a laptop to and from work every day, we like the leather backpack in cognac ($326).
 
Simple and sophisticated, the unisex backpack — which has adjustable straps — can carry up to a 17-inch MacBook laptop. It’s also a great place to store your after-work gym clothes and water bottle — the bag has a water-resistant lining to help minimize spill damage. How smart!
 
Available at Jenny N. Design
jennyndesign.com