Shiny red Mulberry has arrived

It’s here! It arrived on Monday, by recorded delivery.

Front cover

Back cover

My first impressions though were… “Hmm. It’s very shiny.” In fact, it’s beyond shiny. It’s glossy. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so shiny/glossy/lacquered-feeling. After Indiana Jones, it felt… well… a bit smooth. And it’s a lot more girly. Whereas Indie is fairly unisex (or veering towards male-orientated), the red Mulberry is most definitely geared towards a female market I think.

Pretty good flattability

The basic layout is almost the same as Indie, but with a couple of small differences. The inside front cover has four cut credit card slots, in a vertical orientation, whereas Indie has three horizontal slots. Behind the four slots is one full-height pocket, lined in cream cloth, whereas Indie has a full-height pocket with a ¾ pocket/flap in front.

Inside front cover

On the inside back cover, there is a zipped pocket with a full-height pocket behind. In the red Mulberry, both of the full-height pockets have a bit of shaping to them (the same as in the green crocodile-tummy A5 version), which actually makes getting things in and out of them a little easier as the main part of the opening is a little further from the rings.

Inside back cover

Both Indie and Red have one pen loop in the back cover. Both are leather and elastic.

Whereas Indie was love at first sight, this one wasn’t, although it is definitely growing on me. I’ve moved the contents across from Indie to Red. There was no clash of dividers or anything as the dividers are cream. In Indie, I used the full-height slot in the front cover for paper money and the ¾ pocket/flap as somewhere to put receipts and vouchers (it never felt safe enough for anything else). I didn’t use the full-height pocket behind the zipped pocket as it was hard to get things in and out. I used the zipped pocket for those cards I didn’t carry in the card slots and for books of stamps.

In Red, I’m using the full-height pocket in the front for paper notes and the one in the back cover for vouchers and receipts, otherwise everything else is exactly the same.

Thoughts everyone? Like? Dislike?