Today I will be reviewing for
AsianVintageTN, a shop for handmade traveler's notebooks and journals made with genuine leathers. Run by Len and based in Illinois, it acts as "your source of Asian journals, planners and supplies."
I was first drawn to these notebooks because of their similarity to the Traveler's Company notebooks (which I still refer to as Midori). I was curious to know how they would hold up. I know that a lot of writers and journalers prefer the genuine and authentic version, but I like the creativity in innovation and design.
Len was kind enough to send me two notebook covers for review, along with refills. I received the
camel and
olive standard sized covers, which are currently sold for $27.00 and $35.00, respectively.
They both arrived without any scratches, but I like to use products for a little while before putting my review in writing. Here are the covers after about two weeks of use.
The first thing I noticed was that both covers were very smooth. The camel was much softer and scuffed very easily. The camel cover had a bit more of a harder feeling to it, and did not scuff as easily.
The bottom left corner of each back cover was stamped, though using two separate stamps.
Three blank refills, along with a zipper pouch and card slot insert, came with the notebooks. The blank inserts had stitched binding, rounded corners, and off-white paper.
There are the usual tin clasps, though they appear slightly bigger than the one on my Midori and differ in color.
The insides of the camel cover are raw and soft, whereas the olive one is smoother but still harder. Both covers have thinner leather than that used for Midori (Traveler's Company).
Above is a photo I snapped of the packaging when I first received the notebooks in the mail. The cardboard boxes and elastics are all very similar packaging to the Midori.
I liked the shop's touch of including their own pamphlet in the front. Doesn't it make you want to travel and view nature?
Each notebook cover came in a linen bag, with an extra elastic. I ended up swapping out the main elastics for both covers, which is why the camel cover has the olive elastic and vise versa.
The olive notebook cover has an unnecessarily long elastic bookmark, which I later ended up cutting and knotting in order to match the camel one on the left. This seemed like more of a quality control issue than anything else.
I noticed that the covers appeared larger. After comparing them to my black Midori, I found that they were in fact around half an inch wider. This solves the issue of overhang that a lot of TN users complain about, which often results when one uses more than two inserts in their notebook cover.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the notebooks and their quality. The leather is thinner, something I didn't personally like. The easily scuffed nature is also something to consider, depending on how fast you like your leather to show wear. For instance, my black Midori shown above has been in use for two years and I like the slow character it is gaining.
Because AsianVintage TNs look so similar to Traveler's Company, they act as a good substitute. If you appreciate their characteristics, I'd urge you to try them out.
Disclosure: I was sent these notebooks in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own, and I was not compensated in any other way.
