Construction · 6 min read
Solid Brass vs Plated Zinc: The Part Nobody Photographs
Zippers and D-rings fail long before stitching does. This is why we hold hardware in inventory.
Dana Okonkwo — Co-founder, design · March 22, 2026
Nine out of ten bags that come back to us for repair come back for hardware, not leather. A plated zinc buckle looks like brass for a season, then the plating wears at the contact edge and the base metal pits.
What we specify
- Solid brass or gunmetal-finished brass on buckles, D-rings and rivets
- Zippers from stock lines we keep in inventory, so a replacement slider exists in five years
- Bar-tacked strap anchors, tested at 40 kg static load for 24 hours
- Waxed polyester thread — it will not rot in the seam the way cotton does
Why replaceability matters more than strength
Everything mechanical eventually wears. The question is whether a cobbler can fix it. Proprietary hardware in an unusual size means the whole bag is disposable when one slider dies, which is the opposite of what we are trying to build.
A note on honesty
We sell bags, so read this with that in mind. Everything above is what we tell friends who ask, and most of it costs nothing. If a cheaper bag does the job for how you carry, buy the cheaper bag.
