The Fast Changing World of Men’s Bags

The pace of change in the man bag market is a phenomenon to behold.
When we started selling bags for men through our web store at http://www.blokesbags.co.uk/ there were few to choose from and pulling together a range took a serious amount of effort. I remember our first trade show when we struggled to find what we were looking for among the mountains of women's bags and the whole visit took less than 90 minutes. We attended one last month and struggled to get away within four and a half hours.
The market has exploded.
All of a sudden the trade has recognised the true potential and hitherto specialists in women's accessories have recognised the opportunity and it is having an interesting effect. I have noticed before that in many ways men's bags are more advanced than those carried by their female counterparts because they are being designed from scratch. But that shouldn't be surprising when you consider that some of the world's best bag designers are now turning their attention to bags for men.
Briefcases were there in the beginning, but they are now phasing out as the messenger bag takes over – and how. Briefcases have evolved slowly over the years, but messenger bags have evolved overnight into practical, stylish, must have accessories.
They come in all materials with brown leather being by far the most popular (black is very last year) and some manufacturers are now getting braver and adding bright colours to the mix. Ashwood are about to launch a new range with coloured piping available in green, red, blue or yellow. Very exciting. I will keep you posted.
The same is happening to shoulder bags as more men are forced through the volume of their gadgets to adopt an easy way of carrying them around. Again they come fit for purpose with the option of mobile phone/ipod holders (as well as a grommet to feed your headphones through) and holders for your pens, credit cards and keys.
Nor does it stop there. The fresh approach to the design of bags carried over the shoulder has led to a revisiting of the traditional men's holdall (originally called a man's handbag when they were introduced in the 19^th Century). Now they too take into account what is being carried in them with compartments for everything including one – the Mudd Compartment holdall – which has a separate pocket for your smelly shoes.
Repeatedly I am told that no matter how much bags develop for men that they will not be seen dead carrying a wrist bag. Odd that, because of the handful that we supply one of the models is the best seller in the whole store , the Visconti wrist bag. Over Christmas those bags walked out of the door as fast as we could get them and they continue to do so.
Please do keep an eye on http://www.blokesbags.co.uk/ over the next few days and weeks because we are adding at least another 30 bags, not including our designer range of Matt by Matt and Nat bags. In a couple of months we will also be showcasing bags from Matt and Nat – something we could only dream of when we started just 16 months ago – but that is a lot of bags ago.
There is also a new range of soft Italian leather bags , mostly shoulder bags by Visconti Diffusione that should go down a storm. After all the Italians have decades of experience selling to men who didn't need persuading not walk around in bulging suits.
Watch this space. I will write the definitive guide to men's bags, after all there aren't many people even now that can say they live, breathe (and sell) men's bags.
I will also bring you news soon of a range of bags that we will be having designed. We have learned a lot, time to put all that experience and customer feedback to good use!