An open letter to bagsmiths.
So.
Some of you guys are giant corporations, mass-producing bags in big factories overseas. You might even outsource your design process to a third party. I don't have an opinion on whether this is good or bad, and anyway that isn't actually what this is about.
Some of you are small teams of a handful of people, who got into bagmaking for one reason or another. Some of you are just a single person, working hard at your craft and making things yourself. To tell the truth, I think this is kinda awesome (no offense, big companies).
What you guys have in common is the fact that all of you make bags for people. Think about that for a second. You are designing and making gear that people use every single day. Most people carry with them the things that are important to them - phones, laptops, etc. - tools that they may use to make their living, to get by in this world.
I don't consider it an exaggeration to say that the people who make bags have an intimate connection with the people that use them. It's a hidden, subtle connection, but it's very personal and it's very real.
Users of your products trust you. Sure, they trust the market, too, trust that reviews by those that have used the product previously will steer them in the right direction. But bag reviews really aren't THAT plentiful, and for any bag that a person can't try out for a week or two, there's an element of trust.
All this is leading up to the fact that I am starting to see some patterns in bag designs that are indicative of bad design and poor craftsmanship. And this is not just coming from bags that I have been sent, nor is it just coming from huge corporations that are outsourcing their bags. These problems are not limited to any subset of bagmaker or bag design. These problems are industrywide, without respect to country of origin, size of company, any of that.
For instance - pull tabs. Pull tabs are one of the ways users interact with your product, and almost all of you are making them in a way that hurts the usability of your bags. The doubled-over and sewn portion of the strap (I call it the "anchor")? You know, the part designed to prevent it from unthreading itself from the slide or buckle? Well, people use those to tighten their straps, too. Which I'm sure you know. So why are you sewing them so short that they can't be grabbed and pulled? You know, doubling them over and sewing them as small as possible, which means that when I expand the strap to its full length, the anchor gets caught up in the slide and I have to spend 3 minutes prying it out before I can retighten the strap.
You need to make sure that the anchor portion lodges in the slide/buckle at least an INCH before the end of the strap. Preferably with a loop big enough that I can hook my finger in and pull. And this isn't just on the bottoms of shoulder straps. This is on straps for lashing stuff to your bag, compression straps on the sides and bottoms of bags, flap buckles, everything.
Another one: Stitching. Scott from the Black Rainbow Project has brought this up in an interview I conducted with him. The stitches you make are the difference between a pile of fabric and buckles, and a bag that has shape, purpose, character. Far from being a background issue, the stitches are, in a way, the skeleton that bring your bags to life and make them something that people can use and love. They are the infrastructure that defines your bag. More care needs to go into not only planning the stitches your make, but making sure that the sewing you are doing is right for the job. Improper stitching causes bags to break. That lifetime warranty so many of you have is great, but even better would be if none of your users ever needed it.
A more abstract example: Usage extremes. I have owned a number of rolltop backpacks, I've tested even more than that, and I've had time to handle/try on/play with more than I can count. Nearly every single one of them provides a strap that goes over the top of the bag and buckles, or velcros, or whatever to keep the rolled top in place. And yet, in nearly every one I've used, the strap does NOT extend over top of the bag if it's stuffed to the gills. Nothing to stop my stuff from falling out.
I admit it, I'm an outlier in my bag usage. But an otherwise great bag can become a point of failure if it does not function when taken to its reasonable limits. Rolltop backpacks are designed for adjustable capacity. They are meant to be crammed full of stuff. Most rolltops expand to truly amazing volumes. But arguably the time when it is most necessary to have a strap go over the top of the bag is when it's too full to roll shut, and thus needs some other method of holding things in place.
This is just a concrete example of an abstract problem. Any feature that your bag includes should be designed to work when that feature is pushed to its limit. Use cases for bags should always consider maximums (as well as minimums - if I have a huge bag that is nearly empty, is it still wearable? Usable? I've had huge bags that when empty, don't close well, and thus allow things to fall out of them).
A final example (though there are more): ergonomics. The bags you make transform the human body into a machine for carrying cargo. They are literally systems for to augmenting what people are capable of. If the equipment you create for providing this functionality does not integrate perfectly with the human form, the result is wear and tear on both the body and the bag.
I am not a designer, nor do I claim to have the skill or experience to be one. But I am a user, one of millions, and I can tell you that ergonomics are even more important than you think. Anecdotally, as someone who writes about bags because I enjoy doing it, I've found that the single biggest issue that people take with a bag when they're deciding whether or not to buy it is comfort. Can I wear this for hours on end? Can I fill it with the things that I take with me on a daily basis? Does it hurt when I wear this on my bike? The parents that are out with their children, the cyclists that ride to and from work, the students that rely on your bags to help them learn - all of them would tell you that comfort is the biggest priority. Every bag you design, every one you make, should take the gravity of ergonomics into account.
You need to increase the time spent considering the usability of your bags. These bags are systems, and they are comprised of interfaces. Interfaces for adjusting things, for configuring loadout, for moving weight and lifting and shaping. Interfaces for easing strain on the body and on the bag. Interfaces for holding things and making things accessible.
And consider how you test your designs, as well. You need to get the bags out to the people that are going to wear them, and use them, and yes - break them. By all means, you should be testing your bags internally. But you should ALSO be giving your bags to the daily wearers, the people who only buy a new bag when the old one breaks. As your bags are primarily human load-bearing interfaces, research into  and testing of ergonomics is more important than any other concern.
I am probably telling you guys things you already know. I am still learning to make bags (I've got about three half-constructed on my workshop floor), and I know that I am not your peer in terms of skill or production. So many of you have stepped out and created these things, and that is amazing and I applaud you for it. I also know that criticism is easy, and it's especially tiring and galling from someone who has NOT stepped out and made bags and failed and succeeded and done it all for years.
I am not saying any of this to lash out, or tear you down so that I look good, or make myself feel superior. I would be thrilled to have the production skills of any person working for any company I've written about or linked to on this blog. I am saying this because each individual bagmaker, all of you guys, are doing something that I find remarkable. You are making these objects that people take around the world. Things that people pass down to their kids. Things that are, in some instances, created from the literal waste products of our society, and transformed into an object of utility and value and beauty.
What's more, every bag maker I've talked to has been supportive of this blog, and so many of you have even offered me advice on getting started in my own work. I'm very grateful for that. Which is precisely why I'm writing this. You've been awesome, and I want to see you continue to be awesome and make amazing things.
-The Bag Collector
