Does the Cordura erode your clothing?

[kellyr]

I'm oh so close to ordering a Smart Alec to protect my 15" Powerbook G4. But here's my fear: my current bag (an aged Eagle Creek backpack with a generic laptop sleeve inside) is made out of such rugged Cordura fabric that it tends to destroy any fine-textured clothing you wear it over.

It's fine when you're wearing a jacket (which in San Francisco is a good portion of always), but I've had it really do some damage to a fancy raincoat and some nice sweaters.

Do I need to worry about this with the Smart Alec?

[teresa]

Hi Kelly,

According to Dupont, the new "Cordura Plus" is softer and not quite as harsh as older Cordura, but I have no personal experience to verify that.

A co-worker says that the Cordura bag does tend to damage her "fuzzy sweaters" when she wears them in tandem so she carries a different bag on fuzzy sweater days. Otherwise, her clothing seems to survive the Cordura okay.

If other folks have personal experience with Cordura vs. your every day wardrobe, I'd be interested to hear them. I don't have a cafe bag yet (although I'm sure it's not too far off in my future) and the ID bag I routinely carry is made primarily of ballistic nylon so I'm personally unfamiliar with the issue. Not to mention the ribbing I would incur if I were to don a fuzzy sweater.

Hope I've been at least slightly helpful,
Teresa DeVaney
Shipping Manager
Tom Bihn - Portable Culture

[HappyJ]

I've used a Courierware Incognito Camera Bag, which is made of 1000 denier Cordura, for several years. The cordura is surprisingly soft and has never caused any eroding on my clothes. But, YMMV.