I was a bit disappointed by the special Mister Freedom Mariners Tote that I received today from J.Crew. Overall it looks great, and the hand painted work is excellent, but I was let down by the quality of the bag itself which seems like one of the regular totes that they sell in their stores for about $60.
There’s nothing particularly good about it from what I can tell, and it does not compare well to my Filson, Superior Labor, or Engineered Garments totes. Even worse is that it has an unmistakable odor of an industrial strength laundry detergent that I would guess J.Crew used in washing it to give it a vintage look.
Unless you’re a die hard Mister Freedom fan, I recommend just buying a plain canvas tote from L.L. Bean or similar and painting it yourself. Read on if you’d like to see more pictures.
