I have had a Mbmj for years and the leather is still wonderful. It's a really nice bag. I recently purchased the softy max but returned it because the leather on the sides of the straps were all splitting, cracking and the sealer (if that's what it's called) was chipping off on the straps. I've been eying the turnlock faridah because the leather is luscious, size is good, weight not too heavy and shoulder strap is made differently than the softy so I don't think will crack (all the softies seemed to have cracking handles when I checked at Bloomingdales). The only thing holding me back from the purchase is I am into butterscotch, luggage type color and I am tired of his green, mushroom, black, blue....I wish his color palatte was better!