Are you going to be using it outside?

I prefer nylon for being washable. Easier to clean if something explodes in or on your bag. Plus I don't like having flash looking luggage.

Nylon will be lighter and better with water obviously. Leather is a bit more durable around sharp/rough objects…. Leather requires maintenance, nylon doesn’t.

Personally I’d go nylon because the weight and weaknesses of leather, but it depends how you use it and what you value.

Nylon if you're going to use planes.

Travel bag is vague

Id go Filson canvas or north face base camp for small duffles

> Leather requires maintenance, nylon doesn’t.

That's a bit hard to say, even without maintenance the leather may last way longer than a nylon bag. Depends on what leather is used of course, it's not all the same.

I think main issue with leather is the weight...

Thick nylon ripstop is durable stuff. Just as long lived or more than high quality leather. It just can tear a bit easier. All leather requires maintenance, regardless of quality. It loses moisture and will crack.

Quality matters, some types of leather can go on for years and years with no maintenance. Depends a lot on the tanning process. On a bag, it also does not fold much and isn't folded nearly as often as on clothing or footwear...

Leather is nice but it will get banged up and scuffed when traveling.

Quality doesn’t really correlate with how much maintenance. Many “lower quality” leathers actually usually require less maintenance because they’re tanned with more chemicals (or are coated with coatings) that retain moisture better than your regular high quality veg tan. You might have less folding, but you’ll get plenty of UV, water, salt, sweat, etc., on a bag.

But in any event, beefy nylon is very durable - the only major weakness is tearing.

My duffel bags and laptop bag are ballistic nylon and I am convinced they will outlive me. I would go nylon, personally.

Ballistic nylon and cordura are very common synthetic fabrics that I would consider more durable than leather or just plain ripstop! There are definitely ripstop cordura or xpac patterns too. Leather is if you like the material itself and are OK with seeing it patina, synthetics for long term durability and ease of repair.

Nylon

Look in to Maxpedition. They make some bombproof bags.

> Quality doesn’t really correlate with how much maintenance. Many “lower quality” leathers actually usually require less maintenance

Isn't that a correlation?

Anyway, what is high quality and what is low quality? I was not talking about quality tiers?

Afaik quality of something is an attribute of it, and maintenance frequency is one of the qualities that leather can have.

I have traveled to something like 80 countries now and have used all sorts of bags both nylon, leather and aluminum. At the end of the day everyone who travels to the ends of the earth ends up with a nylon bag. They are lighter and more durable than leather. Buy an Osprey and don't look back. I was on a boat ride in Patagonia recently and over half the luggage was Osprey, and the rest was a mix of high end north face duffels and some Patagonia duffles.

There are high quality leather products that require a lot of maintenance, and low quality leather that requires little maintenance. If there’s any correlation, it’s weak.

Generally leather quality is based on the quality of the hide (what part of the hide, what weather conditions the cows lived in, what scars they had, etc.), the type of leather (full grain, corrected grain etc), thickness, and the quality of the tanning.

Yes you can judge leather by the amount of maintenance it requires, but you’d be eliminating many of the better options in other metrics.

I love all leather bags. Mine aren't fragile although you do have to condition them every now and then.

Both are bifl.

And imo both have their place.

I think nylon is going to be better if your destination involves being outside and adventuring.

Leather is better if you're destination is for work or if you need to look classy.

I also disagree with the idea that leather requires more maintenance, it's just going to look shitty and defeats what I consider to be it's purpose if it gets stained. That can be cool, and give a used look, but then you're potentially specializing even more.