Baggulicious

My mother is a bag lady. I grew up fishing bags out of bags, out of bags, trying to find the right one to carry my sleepover necessities, while she dumped multiple tubes of red lipstick and old gum from one purse to the next. We were never in shortage of totes, handbags, clutches, or crossbodies. Outside of packing my galaxy Jansport backpack for school, or one of my mother’s bags for sleepovers, and overnight trips—I wasn’t a bag girl. They felt too girly for me. How was I even meant to hold them? By the ends of my fingertips with a bent elbow? Or in the crook of my elbow accompanied by a limp wrist? It was too complicated for me, I already had trouble figuring out why it was cooler to only use one strap of my Jansport.

Entering my junior year of high school, my friend group and I decided that backpacks were lame. Even lamer if you carried them on one shoulder. Instead, we wore totes. Totes were totes in. While I could agree that these tote bags did feel somewhat “cooler” than my normal backpack, I didn’t love the feeling that I was becoming a bag lady myself. Totes are a gateway bag: first, you pick one up at a farmers market to hold your cheap flowers and thrifted sweater, then the next thing you know you need to subscribe to The New Yorker for the free bag. I rode the tote wave up until college, occasionally attempting to dabble in mini backpacks and crossbodies. Everything felt too big, too bulky, or just the opposite—too flimsy, too dainty.

My birthday has always been a marker for the end of summer for me. August 1 is the day when the hottest of the hot days come out and generally when all my friends head out of town for their last trips of the summer. In August 2021, I got one of my favorite birthday gifts to date: a dark green, crescent moon-shaped, Baggu bag. It was love at first wear. The shoulder strap, wide and reminiscent of a branded seatbelt, fit perfectly on one shoulder without sliding off. Watch out totes! I instinctually slung it over my head and rotated the strap so the actual bag part of the bag would lay on my back. I felt straight out of Newsies and I loved it. The pockets? Massive. One main pocket, which I soon learned, easily fit a double bottle of wine. The other two were quickly stuffed with loose change, emergency celebratory candles, Calico Critters, just-in-case jewelry, three different types of gum, and my favorite mini journal and matching mini pens. I’d never felt more confident, there was nothing I felt that suited me more than this green crescent I’d now decided to permanently attach myself to. I brought it everywhere with me; we were inseparable, and for good reason. The gift redefined my end of summer blues as the beginning of a new and Baggu-licious era.

Going out to lunch with my parents? Baggu. Plenty of pockets to fit leftovers in! Going to the beach? Baggu. It’s waterproof! Going out for a night on the town? Baggu. Your friends are going to thank you for all the ample wallet and lip gloss space you have!

Born in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Baggu began by offering one standard bag in a variety of colors. While their success wasn’t immediate, their emphasis on cute and stylish, but environmentally friendly bags pushed their brand into the spotlight. Almost 18 years later, Baggu has become much more than just a bag. The company’s growth has spiraled in an almost fantastical way—moving from their basic, reusable shopping bags, to now boasting over seven styles of bag, each with their own patterns and colorways. In addition to constantly seeking collaborations with popular brands such as characters like Hello Kitty and well-known music artists like boygenius, the brand has pushed beyond the bounds of bags as we knew them.

With the brand’s heart lying with its commitment to designing products that produce as little waste as possible and are meant to last, the use of recycled materials in their bags is what allows the brand to keep simple yet admirable designs flowing. Limiting their materials to recycled nylon, recycled leather, and recycled canvas allows for more experimentation with bag design and also creates a recognizable brand identity for consumers.

The versatility of the materials used to create the bag also lends itself to a versatile amount of consumers. The bags are sturdy and meant to last, meant to hold a bunch of stuff, and to be comfortable to carry. Any and everyone can appreciate a bag that holds its own and looks good doing it. But what I didn’t realize, until my bag received compliments from both a new mother pushing a double stroller and from one of my favorite baristas at my favorite coffee shop, all within the span of thirty minutes, was just how versatile the bag was. They each uttered the phrase as old as time itself, “Oh my god! That fill-in-the-blank is so cute, where’d you get it?”

That day it hit me. Baggu. Is a bag… For U! For me! For everyone! The classic Baggu silhouette is suitable for not only any occasion but any person. I have seen my same dark green, crescent Baggu bag on countless people—never styled the same, never dominating an outfit, instead complementing it, and never empty. Baggu carriers know that if you can fill it up until the chunky zipper barely shuts, why wouldn’t you?

Regardless of how you identify, or what you need to hold, everyone deserves to carry their things in style. The idea that purses are just for women, or that they are only for bag ladies, swam in my mind for years and years, but the community I have built through this bag has proved otherwise. With Baggu’s popularity only increasing, I feel excited to meet my fate as a bag person and can’t wait to continue to grow my collection.

Gigi SipioraApril 26, 2024