Manbags, why are so many people against it?

If you’ve been reading my tweets as of late you might notice a conversation I’ve been having with @philwalters about ‘manbags’. But what’s really curious is some of the reactions I’ve been getting.

Those of you that have met me will know I tend to favour a big coat. It’s not to hide my ever growing and frankly ample belly, and neither is it to do with the elements, it is however all to do with pockets. Indeed, I’m carrying more and more stuff around with me that I really do need the extra storage.

As many men will tell you, they stick their wallet in one pocket, their keys in another and their phone in another. Call me stupid but that doesn’t seem like a good thing to do to prevent wear on your trousers or jeans, and neither does it seem to be practical. Let’s think of our keys a second, my keychain has my two front door keys, my key to the office, my office draws, a USB pen drive, and sometimes it includes my car keys. That’s quite a bit of bulk to be sticking into your pocket, and aside from the more obvious wear issues, it doesn’t exactly look like the type of bulge we all want on our pockets.

As well as that my wallet, despite being cut down in size rather dramatically, isn’t exactly small, add on my smart phone, and from top to bottom in it’s slimmest form, it’s the equivalent of putting a small mail parcel into your trousers.

There is however a solution, which thankfully, more and more people are starting to adopt and something that has become a standard in the far east. The ManBag.

If you go to Thailand or China, there are no shortage of men carrying small purse like items around their necks like the one on the left, yet in the UK most people choose to either carry everything in a rucksack, or tuck it into their laptop bag if they need to carry it with them, rather than actually constantly carrying a bag with them. Of course theres a social stigmata as well, many friends and people I have spoken to regard ‘manbags’ as items for homosexuals or things that look just plain silly.

For me I have two items that I wish I could carry around constantly but don’t. My iPad, and my SLR camera since I don’t have a compact. I also need to keep a spare pair of glasses with me, and if you ever go through my pockets you’ll see I tend to have painkillers stuffed in there as well. So for me, it would be a great idea to carry a manbag. Couple that with the painkillers I keep and the fact I almost always need a pen then it starts to become practical.

What I don’t understand is how other people don’t follow suit and carry one as well. As I’ve already said some of my friends think it’s purely for homosexual males to carry around their ‘guyliner’, or just for transvestites, but there is no reason why you can’t pick up a male bag that doesn’t look overly flamboyant, remains casual and looks appropriate even in business, take this messenger bag The bag comfortably holds a laptop, and your other gear, and is sufficiently casual and smart enough to wear every day or even with a shirt going to a meeting.

Smaller versions exist, ideal for carrying a netbook or iPad, with enough space for your every day items, leaving you free to carry your wallet, phone, keys, and other essentials whilst remaining dignified with this bag from TOM BIHN a great example.

For me personally I will be getting, and carrying one with pride since I really do need to carry quite a few things with me, and I can only hope that others will be willing to follow suit. If of course that leaves me being branded as a transvestite, then fine, I’ll be a transvestite, but face it, we’re getting to the point where we need to carry more and more things around with us, so someday we are going to have to let it all give.

EDIT: – Links fixed! Thanks for the heads up all