Attività

They used to be carried by the slightly awkward-looking kids in the school playground or hikers and were much more likely to be sported by men than women. But now, go to any high street, office or packed rush-hour bus and the humble backpack bag is everywhere.

Fashion searches for rucksacks are up 37% month-on-month, according to global fashion search platform Lyst. In the UK the annual amount spent on backpacks has risen every year since 2014 when, according to global market research company Euromonitor International, the retail spend was £112m – it forecasts the 2019 figure will be £219.5m.

“There has been an enormous change in attitudes towards day packs,” says Ralph White, UK managing director of the Swedish rucksack brand Fjällräven.

With many high-fashion brands, from Gucci to Coach, making rucksacks; the mid range of the market seeing a proliferation of more sophisticated designs – from the likes of Herschel to Dr Martens – and more than 400 styles offered on Asos, backpacks have come a long way from the days of Power Rangers or My Little Pony bags.

The rucksack’s fashion credentials have been bolstered by the rise of gorpcore – a neologism coined in 2017 from the acronym “gorp”, which stands for “granola, oats, raisins, peanuts”, aka trail mix, and encompasses all manner of camping attire. The ongoing popularity of luxury sportswear has helped make rucksacks less back-of-the-bus and more chia seeds and balasana. With the rise of the urban hiker look last year, the field trip look went high-fashion. “The outdoors as a whole has definitely got more fashionable,” says White. Plus it’s come into cities.

With some of the most popular brands hailing from Sweden, they play into our era’s love of all things Scandi. As White explains: “There has definitely been a rise in the popularity of Scandinavian culture – from hygge to fika. Fjällräven takes a very Scandinavian approach to its product design.” Its now-iconic Kånken, was introduced as a bag for Swedish children in 1978.

The sheer practicality of the rucksack is a plus point, too. Backpacks are “easy to wear, hands-free, fuss-free and comfy,” says Georgie Tym, a lecturer at Cordwainers, the shoes and accessories brand of London College of Fashion. Function appears to be winning over any lingering competition from archaic, gendered double standards. If Danielle Drake, PR manager at Sandqvist, a high-end Swedish bag brand, is to be believed, the backpack is to bags what flats are to high heels. “The past pressure of having to cram all of your gear into a shoulder bag just for the sake of dated perceptions on women’s workplace attire has no place in today’s world.”

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Backpacks were once considered casual and suited only for travel or for students who needed to lug books by the kilos. It was a hard-working bag meant for the wearer’s comfort.