a completely frivolous post

[glass_icarus]

Since I am having bag trauma at the moment, you guys can perhaps benefit from my headaching?

The trouble with me and bags is that I am well-indoctrinated by my mother, who believes that having many pockets is THE BEST THING EVER, and I happen to concur. While you may have noticed that I'm not the most organized person (I mean, just look at the contents of this journal!), I am a sucker for good organization systems when it comes to things what I carry around all the time. The 30+ year old leather bag my mom handed down to me is still my favorite and it has set my standard for "reasonable/practical design" pretty high. The thing has DIVIDED SECTIONS in addition to various useful pockets, okay? I can put books and my laptop and umbrella and wallet in there and still have room for all kinds of random stuff! And I can find everything I need in it in 10 seconds or less!

The only downside to it is that it's heavy (I don't so much mind the beaten-up), and I've become accustomed to the more lightweight cloth bag I've been toting around. Which... I'd keep using, but NOT ENOUGH POCKETS. I already hate digging around in the un-pocketed clutter for everything I'm looking for, and school will definitely exacerbate that problem. Also, I am lazy when it comes to switching bags love multipurpose things and would prefer to have a fairly durable (& if non-waterproof, washable) bag that will serve equally well for school, dance practice, grocery runs, various goings-out in the city, and random short-period travel adventures/overnight stays. *g* I am demanding, I know! And this isn't even getting into my aesthetic preferences!

Anyway, I am still trying to decide on something that meets my criteria, but here is a brief rundown of several makers of (what I consider) nice bags on etsy:

» sineminugur: really nice & practical designs, cute fabric choices; okay budget-wise & shipping-wise
» ikabags: ecofriendly, practically designed, cute fabric choices; not low-budget & awful shipping costs
» namu: I like the shinkansen designs, but not so practically-pocketed; pretty good budget-wise & shipping-wise
» CrazyBoy: nice practical bags; less okay budget-wise & shipping-wise
» tippythai: stylish and practical (some designs more so than others), water resistant fabrics available; okay budget-wise & shipping-wise

Alternate suggestions/thoughts would be more than welcome!

eta; I has achieved a satisfyingly-pocketed solution! \o/ (I still think the etsy ones win on style, though.)

Comments

[avendya]

I suspect that was me re. Timbuk2 -- they have infrequent sales, which make their bags only expensive instead of HOLY HELL, and their stuff lasts. I'm really, really hard on bags, and have a tendency of putting thirty pounds of books in a messenger bag, and Timbuk2 bags actually last for me. Which is not to say that other people have the "must be built to withstand the apocalypse" reaction to bag shopping!

(They had a one-day backpack sale where I got a backpack for $55 including shipping; considering a JanSport backpack (which break, with my usage -- I know from experience) is $30ish, I was pretty OK with the price.)

[glass_icarus]

Aha, yes, I think it was! *g* I was ogling their stuff earlier today and then I checked the price tags and my eyes bugged out, sigh.

[avendya]

See, it is a thing that works if you have only one or two bags, and keep them for years! I have a laptop messenger. Which I have been using since freshman year of high school. Daily. Which I also got on sale -- and laptop bags are always expensive, so I feel justified in its original $100 price tag. If a bag can still be intact after five years of me, it's pretty much going to withstand anything under the sun.