I picked five bags in sizes that comfortably hold a laptop and thick books. There are KHIHO's Astra Three-way Backpack in Black and Light Grey that you can carry lightly thanks to their nylon material, AMOMENTO's Large Leather Tote Bag in Dark Brown and Black that add style to generous storage, and KHIHO's Jenner Bag in Brown that's easy to sling over your shoulder. Lately, the campus bag lineup tends toward versatile utility where you can change how you carry it beyond simple storage, or a neat impression with calm leather textures.
Up until the late 1960s, American college students didn't put thick major textbooks in bags, but held them in their arms or carried them tied with leather straps. When students at the University of Washington in rainy Seattle began buying and wearing JanSport hiking backpacks to keep their textbooks from getting wet, the brand's founders took advice from the college bookstore to release a dedicated student backpack with wider dimensions, nylon zippers, and a waterproof bottom. Born by coming down from the mountains to carry students' major textbooks, that rucksack became the standard for the school backpacks we carry today.
Nothing feels more reassuring on the way between classrooms and the library than taking the weight off your load. Shall we narrow it down just to backpacks, or would you like to look at totes and shoulder bags first?
↳ View backpacks only
To fit the backpack criteria, I picked KHIHO's ASTRA 3-WAY NYLON BACKPACK. It comes in two colors: Black and Light Grey. It's a highly useful bag in lightweight nylon that lets you adjust the straps to switch its shape into a tote or shoulder bag.
The Astra in its name refers to the star from the Latin proverb 'Per aspera ad astra' (Through hardships to the stars). In 1977, this phrase was also included in Morse code on the Golden Record launched into space aboard Voyager, symbolizing human courage reaching out through arduous trials. It is a record like a tender message in a bottle sent out by humankind into pitch-black interstellar space.
In a way, it places the name of a star onto the everyday pack you carry around. Shall we narrow it down to the deep, calm Black, or would you like to bring up Light Grey or an entirely different list of totes too?
↳ In Black
To match the Black color, I picked KHIHO ASTRA 3-WAY NYLON BACKPACK. The deep black color combined with nylon's signature light texture blends effortlessly into both everyday and formal looks.
There is also an interesting story behind how black became the default standard in industrial manufacturing. Henry Ford's Model T was originally produced in various colors, but as assembly lines accelerated, the natural air-drying of paint—which took days—became the factory's biggest bottleneck. Because the fastest and cheapest paint that could be baked and cured in a high-temperature oven in just one hour was an asphalt-based black, all cars were unified in a single black color for mass-production efficiency.
A black bag that goes cleanly with anything becomes the most dependable anchor wherever you head each day. From here, shall we look at totes and shoulder bags too, or would you like to search for backpacks in other colors or bags that fit 15 inches or larger?
Final Selected Products
