Where would you go to buy a school backpack?

[Whathappenedtothelego]

DD starts secondary in September.

Grandparents have kindly offered to buy her school bag.

We have scoped out at the end of the day, most of the younger ones seem to have backpacks.

We are struggling to actually find any backpacks in the shops though.

Where would you go to actually physically try them out? Really don't want to buy online.

Have looked in a few department stores, hardly managed to find anything at all, apart from designer stuff at over £100. Outdoor shops do sell rucksacks, but Dd wants something less "outdoorsy". Cath Kidston (acceptable to Dd!) seems too flimsy.

Budget is about £50 for something sturdy and hopefully lasting a few years.

Do luggage shops actually exist any more?

They can be very fickle re bags or rucksacks.
Most of the girls round here have those horrible cheap and nasty bags from River Island or Primani. DD has an Adidas rucksack which we bought on line but the one before that was Adidas bought from Topshop. But she is in the minority the majority have cheap hand bags.
DS has a Vans one (which due to lack of shops in our area) we also bought online.
Schuh often have a few rucksacks in which might be worth a try.

Ooh, outlet village! Brilliant idea, there is one not too far away, so we could make an outing of it!

I teach in a massive comp. Honestly get her a hype or a kanken depending on her style.

Superdry, very well made. Better prices online than in their shop

Purchased an Eastpak one from Amazon for DS this year.
I had one when at uni in the US 20 years ago, still in constant use until last year when the strap finally gave way.
Eastpak are the most common brand used in US at school and college because of reliability...range of neutral colours and patterned.
Wasn't worried about buying online because of previous purchase.
DS's one is thoroughly abused and still looks good!

Another vote for Hype. Big enough for books, iPad, lunch and a very compact coat. The ones we have are on their second year and going strong. There are so many colours to choose from. Good idea about Next. If you order to store you could look at it there and return straight away if no good.

Hype her, from a Schuh store but the one for Children's shoes had more bags in than the Schuh store for adults!

My DD, 13 has a Kanken for school, as do lots of her friends. Bit more expensive but seems to be lasting well.

Dd1 has a converse one. Big enough, but not too big, strong, great colour choices cost about £25 online. Has had for nearly 2 years.

Dd2 has a Totoro one she was desperate for from Amazon. It's much better quality than I thought it would be (but she's only had it for a few months). It's big, has enough pockets, came with a very cool key ring and cost £22.

Another vote for Hype. Got a discount via the MN discount pages so bought it direct from their website.

DD is in Y5 and it's probably a tiny bit big for her, so would be ideal for secondary school. She got it in Sept and wears it everyday. It still looks like new, seems pretty waterproof and has a nice, thick fabric.

It was more than I wanted to spend, but it should last right into Y6 too.

Deichmanns sell branded backpacks If there is one near you?

Vans has lasted us well. DS is on his second one as the first one was no longer the “right look”. They get booted about, thrown on the ground as football goals and lugged around on the bus.

I’d probably recommend routeone they do most of these brands

Few yrs ago Top Shop had great ones, big pockets, canvas, perfect design, not even that expensive by Top Shop standards. Lots of places sell cheap ones, like Sports Direct.

I've paid £4 for one off of Ebay & was happy I got value for money.

We got a lovely Roxy backpack in their sale was 25 quid but it’s sturdy plenty of pockets and a bit surfer style. The Hype ones are good too.

Does the school have any rules about bags? Ours had to be black or navy and no logo.

But liberated into 6th form, JanSport rucksacks are suddenly a thing in our local schools. They do come in lots of great colours.

Kanken and hype are big here. MiPac and vans also feature.

Kanken are expensive but so practical as you can get to everything in them.

With discounts they are around £60.00

Both my sons are at secondary school and have laptop backpacks from Amazon.

They are padded on the back so books don't dig in, have several pockets to stash different stuff rather than one large pocket, and they are shower proof making them great for walking with.

They are also different than all the other Superdry/Hype/Nike ones that everyone else has meaning they are easy to spot (they get piled up at lunch time.)

I get them from TKMaxx, ds has a no-fear one and it was about £15.

No point spending loads as hes already lost one this term

Whatever brand you buy , make sure it’s black or navy . Lighter colours will look dreadful after a few months use .

DD1 had an Eastpak for Y7 and Y8 but swapped to a Kanken for Y9. Visit Urban Outfitters to look at the Kanken or order a few online and return the ones you don't want?

Do check the school rules on bags before buying, and spend some time looking at the bags current students have. DD1's school expect bags to be plain and dark e.g. black, navy or dark grey. It also specifies a rucksack rather than a handbag.

Another vote for Fjallraven.

My DD (year 7)has this Kanken backpack and it is fabulous. Comfortable, 'fashionable' and fits all of her A4 books in perfectly.

DC has a North Face backpack which looks just as good 4 years later. I also see a lot of fjallraven kanken around.

Update: we went to TK Max, loads of bags but nothing Dd liked, she also turned down the Fjalraven bags BUT she is enthusiastic about the patterns on several of the Dakine bags linked by pp (thank you - had never heard of them!) so we are probably going to order one of those and give up finding something in an actual shop.