When it comes to business bags, you need to choose carefully. This bag will be what you carry each and every day to the office, to meetings and for business travel. The bag you will choose will be what finished your look and what will represent your image when you enter a meeting. The perfect work bag !
Further the bag you pick will be carrying your laptop and important documents as well as personal items. The market of handbags is wide and you have the choice of endless solutions- keep the following 10 criteria in mind when buying your next business bag.
1 – The usage
What to use for your bag should be the first question to ask yourself. Right, the headline was to find a business bag, so probably for work, but even in that case there are several ways to use your bag. Do you carry your mobile office with you, or do you just take documents and occasionally your laptop with you?
For example: A big business bag with several inner pockets like Bossy might be more adapted if you are the “I carry it all” type of person who will rather prepare for a long day to have all in one bag from the office to a pair of spare tights. If you want a handy handbag in which documents fit, but from time to time as well your laptop, a smaller format, easy to carry, like Sassy might be your favourite.
2 – The look
Even though the bag should be for work, a business bag is absolutely made to match your look and to be pleasant for you to look at. Your choice might be focused on business, but the bag needs to be also something on which you do not compromise in terms of style- practical yes, but fashionable as well.
3 – The colour
Match your business bag to your outfits! You have for sure some classical pieces in your wardrobe like the black dress or the pencil skirt or again your favourite blouse. Choose a business bag in colours which match to your outfits.
If you want something neutral you can for example go for a black-marine bag like Classy, which is the absolute all-rounder in terms of women business bags and matches every outfit. Or if you want rather a beige-golden bag, why not to go for Classy in natural-gold with green?- Like this the bag will be your highlight in terms of accessories which matches perfectly with neutral tones of clothes as well as soft colours.
4 – The size
Size matters – at least for bags 🙂
A business bag should always be in a size to carry at least A4 documents. But you should also take into consideration your laptop size. Most of the laptops are 15 or 17 inch, which influences strongly the size of bag to choose.
Savvy and Sassy for example can carry up to 15 inch laptop bags, which Bossy and Classy can carry up to 17 inch. Do not compromise on this point, by simply telling yourself, that you do not always want to take your laptop with you. Even if you take the laptop only from time to time it is important to still be able to use your normal business bag for it.
5 – The interior
As well as size, the inner values count. Further than the usage of the bag, think about what you want to put inside. In the point before you did define size based on your laptop, so probably the laptop is part of the list, but there will be many more items. Your phone, a notebook, pens, business cards, your wallet and much more – you will see that even though you thought not to need much, finally you will soon have your bag fully packed. And in case you need more inspiration of what to put in your work bag, read our blog article about it here.
What you want to carry with you will define the number of pockets you need. Bossy for example has 15 inner pockets to assure that you can organize all in perfect manner. Savvy is rather slim and for business women, who love to carry documents- either in the bag or as well in both side pockets.
6 – The way to carry
On the shoulder, under the arm, in your hand- the way how you like to carry your bag is important to choose the perfect one for you. The same counts for options to carry. Sassy for example is super versatile as you can carry the bag under your arm, turned as a clutch, with the shoulder strap or even on your luggage.
All business bags from Bag Affair offer you a comfortable wide shoulder strap, which is adjustable in size so that you will never miss this option!
7 – The material
The material of your bag will not only determine on how long the bag will last and how the quality is, but as well influence on how the bag was made and if it is a sustainable solution. The classical handbag is still made of leather- either chromes or vegetable tanned, unfortunately both options are using a lot of water and are polluting. Most alternatives are made of PVC or PU (or a mix): means fake leather based on plastic. You can easily see that this is not a sustainable solution at all, as these materials are made of oil and are never biodegradable up to high pollution while production. Further are plastic based materials often not lasting long and not high qualities.
Bag Affair works with cork, which is a perfect vegan alternative to leather. Cork in a good quality will last at least the same as leather, gets a bit softer while using and can carry a lot of weight. The perfect green material for your perfect work bag.
8 – The brand
The brand you will chose for your work bag will tell a story, and it is the story behind, not just what is written on a label what really counts.
There are bags on the market which even have no brand behind (not to mix brand and branding- we are not speaking about huge labels are writings on a bag but the brand behind). Keep in mind that only if you have a brand, you can find the story behind as well. A brand can give you much information about how the work, who designs, where they produces, etc. What is the brand ethics? What is the story behind? Does this brand only produce business bags as part of their collection or are they actually a specialist in this sector?
All these questions will reflect on how, where and why bags are made. Brands which are specialised in business bags will put more thoughts, more time and all their effort in designing your perfect work bag. Brands which have a story will allow you to check the behind the scenes and to see if their story fits to your values.
9 – The price
Your budget will be a condition you need to take into account. There are luxury bags on the market which cost more than you might earn per month. But there are also bags of the fast fashion which do cost less than a full meal- as always the case for fast fashion, these are made under unknown conditions which are often not the best, made of PVC or low quality leather, they are highly polluting and won’t be long lasting.
You do not need to buy an expensive bag, but a cheap one might not be the best choice neither- find the perfect work bag that suits your budget while focussing on spending enough to have a real tool for work. If you spend time in finding your bag, spend enough on a bag that can last for several years- buy less but choose quality, which has a price.
10 – The little extra
There will always be something more to take into account, which will influence your choice of what the perfect work bag is for you. The weight of the bag for example, the little key holder or some detail only you might focus on. Whatever it is- Bag Affair makes business bags from women for women – we are focussed on offering you all you need!
And if there might be something else you are looking for, any new or crazy idea you have for your perfect business bag: We are here to listen. Call us, write an email or send a message on social media – we are happy to hear from you to make the business world a bit better, one bag at a time!
