Canvas and leather — you just can’t get any classier than that. Well, perhaps you can, but it sure makes jansport and timbuk2 look like Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne at a snowy owl preservation benefit. A friend of a friend of ours makes these beautifully crafted covers for whatever it is you might need to protect. Or pamper.

SPONSOR

A new bag company is putting the hand-crafted back into hand-bag. John Finbarr and Asdrubal Barreto are two self-proclaimed ‘designer-makers’ whose unique bags are making the fashion industry personal again. Their limited-range of stylized bags for women and men can be made to order and the often hand-sewn designs means that each creation is unique.

Cop this! Thursday Friday are giving conspicuous consumption the bird with their Together Bag. Featuring the iconic Birkin bag, printed on the front, back, bottom and sides, this canvas tote creates a fabulous Trompe L’oeil from any angle.

It’s fully lined and there’s an inner pocket to keeps all your treasures in one place. The Together Bag is hi-fi meets lo-fi and the perfect sarcastic replacement for your green eco-friendly bag.

We dig this 100 percent natural cotton, reusable shopping bag by New Zealand company GOOD. Perfect for lugging around lemons, bread, and bottles of strange liquid. [buy this bag now for US$9. Why? Why not. It rocks]

We love the satchel bags of German label George, Gina and Lucy spotted at Australian Fashion Week’s Emerge Showcase. Here, innovative use of wetsuit fabric (how very Aussie) contrasts wonderfully with what looks like an old-school private school tie used as piping. Hence it’s name: Sophomore Love. An unexpected mix, but we reckon expect to see more of these urban satchels slung over a shoulder near you soon.

SPONSOR

Made from lightweight aluminum polypropylene composite and based on the environmentally conscious Mother Nature deisgn of a wandering Armadillo, this ergonomic, strikingly original backback design is by the perennially adventurous design team of Leeuw & Vormgeving.

Life is made up of a series of moments. Some of them you’ll blink and miss, but others can shake up your entire world and leave you questioning just about every baggage purchase you’ve ever made. Think we’re being dramatic? Take a look at ex-Mimco designer Rachelle Dendle’s label, After the Apple, because her first collection titled FINS is going to stop you in your tracks. Made up of twelve basic bag shapes that will be adapted to a new theme every season, each bag fits a particular person’s need. This season’s dozen takes inspiration from under the sea, giving us injections of tropical colour and flashes of marine form. So which bag will you be fishing for?

It’s always nice when you find an eco-minded product that needs no explanation to get your approval. FREITAG bags are made from reused truck tarpaulin, but they look so good and work so well that you won’t even need to tell people you’re fighting the good fight.

Since coming back home to London from a short sojourn in New York, I’m getting serious hot dog withdrawals. But now I have the answer. Look, it’s a hot dog, no, it’s a bag, wow, it’s both. Designed by Hannah Havana of Garudio Studiage, these fun Hambags won’t kill my hunger, but at least it puts a smile on my face and reminds me of my beloved New York.

SPONSOR