Searching for… A Weekend Bag

Last week a co-worker mentioned that she would be traveling soon, and asked me if I had any recommendations for a good weekend bag. I like the idea of a weekend bag because it’s much easier to carry them in crowded areas (rather than have a rolling suitcase and inevitably roll it over someone’s feet), and there are some travel situations where having a suitcase – however small – seems unnecessary and a bit too intense. Right off the bat I told her that she should go to Loehmann’s, Nordstrom’s Rack, or some other such store – most of my bags I’ve bought discounted. I also recommended LeSportSac. I’ve never owned one of those bags, but whenever I travel I see women carrying them – and I don’t think I’ve seen the same print twice.

I figured I should do some online research to make sure I had an accurate idea of the possibilities, so I visited the following websites:

Nordstroms
Macys
Shopstyle
Endless
Piperlime
Zappos
LL Bean
J. Crew
Kenneth Cole
Puma
Kate Spade
LeSportSac
Dooney & Bourke
Longchamp

Nordstroms/Macys: Not recommended if you want something interesting or fun. Weekend bags were found with the luggage, and basically seemed to be extensions of the luggage collections. Searching in handbags yielded prettier choices, but nothing large enough to actually use for a trip.

Shopstyle/Endless/Piperlime/Zappos: All of these sites aggregate offerings from other brands or websites so they’re really useful. Shopstyle and Endless have a great selection of bags, and it did not take more than a couple of clicks to get to them. The least expensive on Shopstyle was $55, a small bag found at Endless.com; the most expensive was $1695 and made by Balenciaga. There were a number of trendy looking designer bags in the $200-$400 range, and small bags that would really only be fit for an overnighter for under $100. LeSportSac, however, had weekend bags in different sizes and prints ranging from $80-$120.  The situation was similar at Piperlime and Zappos, except they had a smaller selection of bags, and most of what was surfaced in the search result was LeSportSac.

L.L. Bean/J. Crew: L.L. Bean had ugly duffel bags, and J. Crew had fancy luggage sets. Not useful.

Kenneth Cole/Puma/Kate Spade: I chose these stores because I think of all of them as brands that offer good bags. None of their websites yielded anything large enough to pack for a weekend or longer. Oddly enough, I did see a couple of Puma weekend bags on other websites – but only a couple, and nothing but duffel bags on the Puma site.

LeSportSac/Dooney & Bourke/Longchamp: FINALLY we’re cooking with gas! Dooney & Bourke and Longchamp are higher end, but I knew they’d have what I was looking for, and LeSportSac did too, obviously. These are large, roomy nylon bags with two handles and a long shoulder strap. Lightweight, durable, and stylish.

Note about the Department Stores: I figured out later on that you can find weekend bags *not* in the luggage section if you search by brand. But this means that you have to know which brand you want. I of course searched LeSportSac and found a number of bags, but only a few weekenders.

LeSportSac is definitely the bag/brand that I recommend. Travel bags come in an array of sizes and prints, they’re durable, and affordable. I’m traveling soon and plan to get a large weekender for my trip. Each website had at least a couple of unique prints so I suggest going to department store sites, Endless.com, and the LeSportSac website itself to compare. Note that the weekender comes in four sizes, and if you don’t buy it from the LeSportSac site directly, you may have to search a few sites to find it in small, medium, or extra-large.