Uniqlo 2Way Utility Bag
A bit of a non-sequitur to start: I nearly bought a really cool watch. Limited edition (of 100), sitting in my cart, just waiting for me to click buy. I mostly added it to see the final price with tax, but I was close to copping it. Somehow, I rode out the urge, and honestly, feel pretty good about it. Helps that it's already sold out, so I can't second-guess myself. I'm proud of the restraint, happy to have saved $800, and king of convinced that writing this blog is keeping me accountable. Strangely, I haven't felt a call to write a post about the watch. Instead, this bag has been living in my head rent-free all week.
My wife and I always bring our own shopping bags to the grocery store. No produce bags used either--you have to wash it anyway, so why waste another plastic bag? In the US, even places that supposedly ban plastic bags, you can usually still get them if you pay. I learned very quickly that this is not the case in Mexico City. When we arrived there in January, I went straight to a grocery store and had to buy a marked up, crappy fabric bag just to get our groceries home. Later, we picked up another, much nicer, bag from a local shop that became my go-to for the rest of the trip. Ever since then, I guess I've had bags on the brain.
Tote bags are extremely useful in walkable cities. You can use them to get your groceries or other purchases home and can use them to carry anything you have with you that doesn't fit in a pocket. Sadly, I don't live in a walkable city and there's no real need for another bag in my life. My backpack works well for getting my laptop to and from work and on trips, and I am not exactly hauling groceries home on foot. And yet, the Uniqlo 2Way Utility Bag caught my eye this week. Not my credit card number, but definitely my attention. (I'm guessing this will be the first broken link on the blog, so don't forget to scroll down for pictures if it's already dead).
This bag is unmistakably military inspired. Specifically, I think it's based on helmet bags. Apparently, fighter pilots (and maybe others?) have designated bags for their helmets. For some reason, this just feels right and unreasonably cool. I bike to work occasionally, but I usually just clip my helmet to my backpack. If I had this bag, I suppose my helmet would have a proper home. But more than that, I'm a sucker for multipurpose bags, and this one does double duty as both a tote and a messenger bag--automatic bonus points.
Looks like it zips closed at the top, has a few interior pockets for organization, and the dual exterior pockets give it a great look. It's the kind of bag that can dress down a nice outfit, just enough to show you're cool without trying, or it can lean into more of a workwear aesthetic. Again, huge points for functionality. I don't need it, but, I do get why it won't leave my head.
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