I’ve been doing this long enough that my instincts are usually pretty good. No one trying to predict how a wide market will react to any particular thing has 100% accuracy, but talking with our readers every day for almost a decade gives me a better shot than most. I don’t mind admitting when I’m wrong, though, and I was wrong about backpacks. I thought they were a flash in the pan when they started flooding into stores in 2014, but here we are, watching early 2018 collections start to arrive in stores, and backpacks have quietly stuck around to become a staple of the accessories department. Color me surprised.
On a practical level, it’s easy to see why backpacks’ charms have sustained them beyond the trend stage. Fashion has taken a turn for the casual in recent years, with a particular emphasis on sporty details and materials, and backpacks have a naturally athletic implication to them that works perfectly for modern tastes. They’re also functionally convenient for activities in which the carrier benefits from having two completely free arms while maintaining a reasonable cargo capacity, which covers anything from taking the kids to the park to going shopping with friends.
Because backpacks have enjoyed continued popularity, the versions available now are some of the best we’ve seen in the past several year. Check out over two dozen of our favorites below.