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Without the now-requisite handouts and Powerpoint presentations, growth projections and business models have the habit of sounding like small talk. Nowadays few businessmen go anywhere without a folio or two and a laptop in tow. While a man-purse — the dreaded shoubao — stuffed with hundred RMB notes might be key during meetings with robber barons and provincial officials, the briefcase remains the toolbox of international commerce and finance.

So it is time to graduate from that shiny pleather contraption or the Thinkpad case that came free with your laptop. A black ......on can be to bring pictures from fashion shows or brand websites, marked with your own modifications, to a local leather-maker.

There are plenty of ways to upgrade, but some businessmen may need to work fast in order to avoid looking out of their depth: The North Face backpacks are all too common in the boardrooms of Beijing and Shanghai, with a look about as stylish as high-top sneakers and a wool suit. If comfort is so paramount, why not just go to work in sweats and a tee?