I picked three bags from the list that close at the opening with a string: Centaur's nylon string backpack black, which is great for comfortable wearing; THREE TO EIGHTY's round hobo bag pink, notable for its soft half-moon curve; and YEOMIM's messy bag khaki stripe with a casual mood. Unlike smooth zippered bags, string bags naturally gather into pleats when pulled, giving them a charm that lightly eases the tension of an outfit.
The name hobo bag comes from "Hobo," a term used in the late 19th-century United States to refer to migrant workers who hopped freight trains in search of work. It is a bag made to mimic the slouching silhouette of the bundles they tied to the end of a stick and carried over their shoulders back then. After making its first commercial appearance in 1936 with a 35-cent price tag, it passed through the 1960s hippie movement to establish itself as a classic bag symbolizing wandering and freedom.
Just like a nomad's bundle whose shape flowed to match the weight of the load, string bags also have the charm of flexibly shifting silhouettes depending on what is inside. Among these three, shall we narrow it down to just backpack styles, or would you like to look at options under KRW 100,000 or nylon materials first?
↳ View backpacks only
I narrowed it down to five backpacks only: YEOMIM's mini day backpack and day backpack, Low Tide's string backpack, Centaur's nylon string easy backpack, and AMOMENTO's sheer nylon backpack. Coincidentally, all of these gathered this time are black, leaning toward shapes that reduce bulk with nylon or string details so you can carry them lightly.
There is an anecdote from a college bookstore behind how the daypack, a name often used for bags, entered daily life. Even in the early 1970s, college students carried textbooks under their arms tied with leather straps, but students at the University of Washington in rainy Seattle started putting their books into JanSport hiking backpacks bought from the bookstore's sports section to keep their books dry and ride bicycles. Seeing this, the bookstore manager suggested the "University Bookstore Rucksack" reinforced with durable leather and vinyl at the bottom, and hundreds sold in its first quarter of release, creating a campus backpack culture across the United States.
Unlike backpacks of the past that were packed full of heavy loads, these days we especially often see thin nylon and flexible string bags that blend naturally into light outfits. All five bags have their own distinct flair when worn on the shoulder, so shall we narrow them down by adding a condition? Shall we look for ones that fit a laptop, look at nylon materials, or look under KRW 100,000?
![[1st REORDER] STRING BACKPACK [BLACK] - Low Tide](https://img.hmmm.pub/brands/lowtide/products/f3f1d36f-9387-439e-bac9-c541441faa59/0-320.jpg)
↳ One that fits a laptop
I picked Centaur's 'CENTAUR NYLON STRING EASY BACKPACK_BLACK' as a bag to carry a laptop. Made of nylon material, you barely feel the weight of the bag itself, and because it is designed to open and close naturally with a drawstring, you can comfortably fit thicker electronic devices. Backpacks coming out these days tend to shed the outer layer as lightly as possible to relieve the weight of laptops.
The Osborne 1, the first commercial portable computer that debuted in 1981, weighed a staggering 11kg. It was designed to be carried like a briefcase by closing the main lid and latching it, but with its tiny 5inch screen and no built-in battery, you had to find a wall outlet and plug in the power cord. Although it was heavy enough to make your arms numb, it gained immense popularity solely because you could take work to a desk outside the office.
Considering the days of those heavy briefcases, the combination of laptops and nylon bags we carry today is quite a welcome evolution. This backpack has the advantage that even when packed, its distinctive flexible silhouette comes alive, so your outfit does not look bulky. Aside from backpacks, shall we also look at crossbody bags slung casually over one shoulder, or shall we narrow it down further to a size suited for tablets?
Final Selected Products
