A waxed canvas roll-top backpack, 30 x 17 x 40 cm and 1.37 kg empty, with a separate laptop compartment and a mouth that folds down and clips shut instead of zipping. The exterior encloses 20.4 L, and the usable interior is smaller than that.
- 30 x 17 x 40 cm (11.81 x 6.69 x 15.75 in). Exterior.
- Those dimensions enclose 20.4 L. The usable interior is smaller than that.
- 1.37 kg (3.02 lb) empty.
- Waxed canvas, lined in light cotton.
- Roll-top closure held by a leather strap and a metal clip. No zip across the opening.
- A separate laptop compartment, a zipped pocket inside, open pockets inside, a zipped pocket on the side and zipped pockets on the front.
- A water bottle pocket.
- Leather compression straps with metal buckles down each side.
20.4 liters, not 25
It is 30 cm wide, 17 cm deep and 40 cm tall on the outside. Multiply those and you get 20,400 cubic centimeters, which is 20.4 L. That is the volume of the entire bag including its walls, its seams, its straps and the air behind the back panel.
A backpack's usable interior is always smaller than the box it occupies, never larger. The canvas walls, the seams and the back panel all sit within those 30 by 17 by 40 cm.
In practice this is a one-day bag rather than an overnight one. A laptop, a book, a lunch, a knit layer and a bottle is the load it is shaped for.
The top rolls, it does not zip
There is no zip across the opening of this bag. The mouth is open canvas, and you close it by folding the top over on itself two or three times and clipping a leather strap down the front to a metal hook.
The advantage is that the bag adjusts to what is in it. Rolled twice it is a compact daypack; left almost unrolled it gains several centimeters of height for a jacket you took off. A zipped bag has one capacity and a rolled one has a range, which is most of the point.
A roll is slower than a zip. If you need something out of the main compartment at a ticket barrier, you are unclipping, unrolling, reaching in and doing it all again. That is why the outside pockets matter on a bag like this.
A rolled closure also keeps rain out of the top better than a zip does, because water has to travel up through several folded layers rather than sit on a zip track. It is not a seal.
The laptop compartment, and the measurement that decides it
There is a dedicated laptop compartment against the back panel, separate from the main space. The geometry of the bag around it is what decides whether a machine fits.
The bag is 30 cm wide and 40 cm tall on the outside. A 13 inch laptop is close to 30 cm along its long edge and 21 cm along its short one. A 16 inch machine is nearer 36 by 25 cm. Neither of those goes in with its long edge horizontal, because 30 cm of exterior width leaves less than 30 cm of interior once you count the canvas and the padding.
Loaded the other way, with the long edge running up the bag, both fit inside a 40 by 30 space with room to spare. The bag is tall and narrow rather than wide and flat, and that is the orientation its proportions are built for.
This takes a laptop up to 16 inches standing upright, and does not take one lying flat.
The pockets, counted by someone who owns one
Inside: the laptop compartment, one small pocket that zips, and several open pockets that do not close. The open ones are the right size for a charger, a cable or a notebook, and being open means you reach them without hunting for a pull.
Outside: one small zipped pocket on the side toward the back, and two zipped pockets on the front. These are the ones that make the roll-top workable. Phone, keys, wallet, ticket, all reachable without unclipping anything.
There is also a water bottle pocket. The bag is 17 cm deep, so a standard half-liter bottle sits in it without pushing the profile out; a wide insulated flask will.
The interior is lined in a light cotton rather than left as raw canvas, which is the difference between finding a small object at the bottom and feeling around for it in the dark.
What the wax is doing
The canvas is waxed, which means the woven cotton has been impregnated with a wax compound that fills the spaces between the fibers. Three things follow.
The fabric becomes water-repellent, which is the reason wax is used and is covered separately below. It also becomes stiffer, so the bag stands up on its own rather than slumping when you set it down, and the roll at the top holds its fold instead of springing open.
And it marks. Waxed cotton creases where it is bent and the crease shows lighter than the surrounding fabric, because the wax has moved. Every bag of this material develops a map of how its owner uses it within a few months. If you want a bag that looks new indefinitely, this is the wrong fabric.
Wax wears out of the high spots over a year or two of regular use. It can be reproofed with a wax bar and gentle heat, which restores both the repellency and the depth of color. That is maintenance, not repair.
Rain, precisely
Waxed canvas is water-repellent. It is not waterproof.
The fabric itself sheds rain well. Water beads and runs off rather than soaking in, and in a shower the contents stay dry. Sustained rain is a different case, and it gets in by two routes that have nothing to do with the fabric. The seams are sewn, so there is a line of needle perforations along every joint; nothing is taped or welded. And the pocket zips are ordinary zips with no gaskets, so water tracks along the teeth.
The rolled top is genuinely the strongest part of the bag in weather. The weakest are the front pockets. In a real downpour, put the laptop in the main compartment rather than trusting a zipped pocket, and consider a cover.
1.37 kg empty
Empty it weighs 1.37 kg, which is 3.02 lb.
For context, 1.37 kg is average for a waxed canvas bag of this size and heavy for a nylon one. The wax, the leather straps and the metal hardware all cost weight, and they are the same three things that make the bag last.
Straps and compression
The shoulder straps are webbing, padded, and adjust from below. The back panel is flat canvas rather than a molded frame, so what you pack against your spine is what you feel; put the laptop in its compartment and soft items in front of it and the bag carries flat.
Down each side runs a leather compression strap through a metal buckle. Loosened, the bag opens out to its full depth. Tightened, it pulls the sides in against a light load so the contents do not shift while you walk. These are the same straps that let a roll-top adjust to what is in it, and they are the reason a half-empty bag on this design does not sag.
Leather straps and metal buckles are slower to adjust than a plastic side-release clip. They also do not snap in cold weather, which is the trade being made.
What owners report
The comments that carry information rather than enthusiasm say three things. It holds a laptop, books and daily items, which matches the layout. It is comfortable to carry. And several owners at the one-month mark describe the construction holding up under daily use, which is a short window but a real one.
One owner bought a second for a teenager, which tells you the size reads as an everyday bag rather than a specialist one.
Questions
How big is it? 30 x 17 x 40 cm on the outside, which is 11.81 x 6.69 x 15.75 in.
What is the capacity? The exterior encloses 20.4 L. The usable interior is smaller than that.
Will a 15 or 16 inch laptop fit? Standing upright in the laptop compartment, yes. Lying flat, no: the bag is 30 cm wide and those machines are wider than that along the long edge.
How does it close? The top folds over and a leather strap clips to a metal hook. There is no zip on the main opening.
Is it waterproof? It is not waterproof. The waxed canvas is water-repellent and sheds a shower; the sewn seams and ungasketed zips are where sustained rain gets in.
How heavy is it? 1.37 kg empty, which is 3.02 lb.
Does it hold a water bottle? Yes, in a dedicated pocket. A standard half-liter bottle fits without bulging the profile; a wide flask will push it out.
Can I re-wax it? Yes, with a wax bar and gentle heat, once the high spots start to look dry. Our cleaning guide covers the leather straps; the canvas is a separate job.
Will the creases go away? No. Waxed cotton keeps a record of how it is folded. That is the material working as intended.
