Magnetic Snap

A magnetic snap holds a flap or a top shut with two magnets, or a magnet and a steel disc, riveted behind the lining. A light pull separates them and a light push seats them again. The bag opens and closes one-handed and shows no hardware on the outside.

Holding force is the whole story. A typical bag snap resists 1 to 3 kg of straight pull, which sounds like plenty until you notice that almost no real force arrives straight on. Tipped sideways or peeled from a corner, the same snap gives way under a fraction of that. That means a bag knocked over usually opens and empties. Magnets also lose strength slowly, and years of a flap slamming shut speeds that along. An older bag closes less firmly than it once did.

Read it as tidiness rather than protection. It stops the bag gaping and keeps small items from working their way out while the bag sits upright. Push the closed snap sideways with a thumb in the shop, and if it slides open easily it will do the same on a chair. The rivets should be backed with a reinforcing washer, because a snap pulled repeatedly through thin leather eventually tears out and leaves a hole you cannot repair invisibly. One more habit is worth forming. Keep hotel key cards and older stripe cards away from the snap. A magnet held against a magnetic stripe can wipe it.