They're hip for the hip
U.S. News, August 11,2003
By Justin Ballheim
Scott Thompson was fine with his backpack. Though the 36-year-old Washington, D.C., attorney longed for a bag that was a little bit tougher and easier to rummage through, he thought simple ergonomics explained why his backpack embraced him more than he did it. But then, inspired by bicyclist buddies, he snapped out of it--and into a $70, red-and-blue Timbuk2 messenger bag. The new pack follows him everywhere, from the bike trail to the airport to the office, and he's never been happier (about a bag, anyway).
He's never been trendier either. Once reserved for couriers who needed to get in and out of delivery-packed sacks in a dash, messenger bags are now being toted by everyone from middle-school lunchroom hipsters to old-school boardroom honchos. Old Navy is catering to the kids; Prada hits the highest end. Mass-market behemoths like Coach and Kenneth Cole are unzipping new lines this fall while specialty shops like Manhattan Portage and Chrome report record sales.
So what's the bag deal? The concept is simple enough: A wide strap sits on one shoulder and crosses the chest to allow the bag itself--a horizontally inclined sack, often at least as large as a backpack and with an abundance of compartments--to rest against the hip or lower back and revolve at command.
"They're more fashionable, and they're easy to swing around if you want to grab something," explains 21-year-old University of Colorado-Boulder senior Richard Murray, who now owns three messenger bags: one from the Gap, one from Abercrombie & Fitch, and one from Timbuk2, which has been making them for 14 years.
Four in one. Usage varies as much as the stores that carry them. It's a briefcase, an overnight duffel bag, a large purse, and a backpack. A U.S. News tester lived out of a $120 Metropolis bag from Chrome (with a strap that looks like a seat belt) on a four-day trip to New York City and Block Island, R.I.
Some avid cyclists scoff at the fashion trend. "It's like the folks who go out and buy SUVs because everybody else has one, and yet they're never going to use the four-wheel drive or even get it dirty," says Brad DeVries, a 42-year-old Virginian. The new crop of mainstream messenger bags aren't quite as hardy as their ancestors. Typically, only the traditional bags have such features as a waist strap to keep the pack in place and heavy-duty, waterproof material like vinyl-coated nylon.
But without a waist strap to help distribute a bag's weight, Scott Bautch of the American Chiropractic Association worries that book-loaded messenger bags may be even more troublesome for schoolchildren than stuffed backpacks, which sent more than 6,000 Americans to the ER in 2002.
Bautch likes the ease with which wearers can switch shoulders as they move the sack from front to side to back. But he cautions that letting too much weight rest on one shoulder is "going to change your posture drastically"--and that could be a pain (and not just in the back).
So swivel a little. This is one trend that's likely to stay. Shawn Bega, owner of DC Courier and a bike messenger since he was 15, is a believer. "I've never seen anyone go back," he says. "You don't see people without their messenger bag. It's what they keep their life in."
However, new convert Scott Thompson wants to make one distinction: "My bag," he says, "is clearly not a purse."