High End vs. Highstreet: Canvas Backpack

When I went to East London a couple of weeks ago, I was drawn to walked into Albam, an independent store that sells men's clothes like sweater and stuff which I think quite quintessential British. I heard about Albam quite a long time but never care to go and check their stuff, not until when the dynamic duo that set up the store made a cut in the previous issue of Men's Health magazine.

So, there I am on one Saturday morning... I was at Commercial Street in Spitalfields area when I stumbled upon the label saying 'Albam. Modern Crafted Clothing' that I think is so chic by itself. I love the look of their store, with black awning that spans all the way to the pavement, the dark wood facade and the bare brick wall that looks so raw but at the same time quite edgy. When i take a look at the clothes, they're very high quality made which you never find at the highstreet (hence the hefty price tag too!). But it's not just the clothes that I'm attracted to - it's the backpack that is hanging among all the clothes on the rail which I think looks awesome. I've seen that backpack in the Hypebeast website before, not realising that I'm gonna see it in real life.

This backpack called Summit is so cool coz it got some sort of military feel to it. I love the combo of tan leather trims and black canvas body which made it truly delicious to look at. The size is just perfect - not too oversized nor too small that you can't fill a lot of stuff in it. Just nice. And it has adjustable straps if you wanna change the length when you slung it on your back. Price? £135, which made my eyes suddenly went big upon seeing the tag. If you like it, well bad news coz they're already out of stock and the one that I saw is the last piece on planet for sale! (unless they wanna 'revive' this one for next season...)

Then a couple of days back, I went to Topman to do my usual snooping. i spotted a backpack located somewhere at the back near the Topman 'vintage' collection at their flagship store in Oxford Circus. It's by Peace Corps - the in-store consession which brand is the same as my stripes long-sleeve tee before. When I look at the backpack, i was amazed that it looks quite similar to the Albam Summit pack before. I think for those backpackers who like the Albam one but never wanted to pay the hefty price tag, you might think of getting this one coz it's only £30. For students you can get extra 20% off this month..making it just a mere £24! And it's quite a good quality too coz it's made of canvas with leather trims. Isn't that such a bargain!?