Business columns: The death of the briefcase

Rhymer Rigby

Financial Times

Let us bid farewell to a former staple of office life, said Rhymer Rigby: the briefcase. Once a part of the standard male business uniform, the briefcase “is fast going the way of the bowler hat.” One reason for its demise is that with the advent of computers and other technologies, complicated presentations can now be stored on a device that fits in our pockets. But it’s the relaxation of office dress codes that truly spelled the end of the briefcase. With every man in the office dressed in khakis and open-collar shirts, the stiff black briefcase is “too stuffy to stay.” But what will replace it? Backpacks are fine if you’re a college kid, but otherwise, they just “make you look very, very junior.” Man bags—purses for men, basically—“have never truly shaken off their alien Euro air.” Simple plastic shopping bags might do if you’re very confident or too rich to care. But “none of these pieces of male luggage has the kind of universal business acceptability that the briefcase once had.” Perhaps it’s time for “Briefcase 2.0”?

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