LoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyAs we get out of the house, the gear-obsessed WIRED Reviews team is writing about our favorite bags and EDCs. Today, reviewer Boutayna Chokrane raves about her love for her Lululemon gym bag. You can also check out other Bag Check stories where WIRED writers share their carryall of choice.
There's a certain type of traveler who has spent years quietly furious at the travel-bag industry. One who has stood at luggage carousels watching identical cases circle endlessly; who has wrenched a shoulder hauling a poorly balanced pack through an airport; who has dug desperately through a seemingly bottomless compartment, searching for a specific charging cable tangled-up cord that looks like spaghetti. Thankfully, Cotopaxi's Allpa Travel Pack Del Día Dark can help solve most of those problems while stashing an impressive amount. (You're going to have to untangle your own cords.) It might even take the crown from my previous pick for best bag in the world.
Now, it's been eight long years since WIRED reviewed this bag. We loved it then, but in the time that has passed, bags have gotten better. Fortunately, so has the popular Allpa Travel Pack.
Photograph: Jeremy WhitePhotograph: Jeremy WhitePhotograph: Jeremy WhitePhotograph: Jeremy WhiteChevronChevronSave to wishlistSave to wishlistCotopaxi
The new Allpa boasts better weight distribution (courtesy of air-mesh shoulder and hip straps), which promises a more comfortable carry. And it really is comfortable, even fully loaded. There’s also an added exterior stretchy water-bottle pocket that can hold up to 32 ounces, as well as a luggage pass-through strap that conveniently slides over the handle of a roller case.
It also now comes in a striking Kylo Ren–friendly Del Día Dark guise, which is built from 100 percent leftover black fabric, but with bright, popping zipper pulls and accents. The aesthetic gives you the best of both fashion and function worlds: a black bag that won’t show the inevitable dirt and scuffs any travel bag will collect, but with enough flashes of color that keep it exciting to the eye. It’s a looker, which is no small feat in this space.
The interior panels and pockets on your Allpa will be a unique design for your bag, since every Del Día pack uses only leftover scraps of material of all colors, handpicked by the sewer. It could be aquamarine blue, a dark purple, cherry red, or sunshine yellow. Mine, as you can see below, is resplendent in multiple hues. It's a neat inversion of the usual consumer logic, where you obsess over coordinated colorways and receive precisely what you ordered. Here, the material constraints of responsible manufacturing become the key design feature.
Cotopaxi has long been ahead of its time in terms of ethical and sustainable manufacturing. It gained certification as a Benefit Corporation (B Corp) shortly after its founding, which solidifies its commitment to work toward the general public good. One percent of annual revenue goes to a foundation that awards grants to nonprofits. As that applies to the design of the Allpa, no two bags are identical, and each one would otherwise have ended up in a landfill.
Photograph: Jeremy WhiteBut fetching design and ethical manufacturing matters little if the thing doesn't work. In my two-week, two-continent, four-country test of this bag, I can tell you that the suitcase-style full-zip opening (the kind that lays the pack flat and reveals everything at once) is the feature you don't know you need until you've used it at 6 am in a dimly lit hotel room. It’s also lockable, thanks to YKK zippers with a loop for a padlock.
The thoughtful construction doesn’t stop there: You'll get one large compartment, one medium, one small, plus a front-access zip pocket with a key clip for the items you need in a hurry. Then there’s the zipped and padded, fleece-lined laptop sleeve with an extra pocket for a tablet. Add in, as I did, the matching Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set ($55) and you’ll be stowing used clothing and separating smalls like a boss.
The pack straps and adjustable waist belt all neatly tuck away when you don't need them, turning this Allpa into more of a soft suitcase. This flexibility is ideal when overzealous gate attendants insist you squish the bag into the sizing box to ensure it can go on board a flight, thus delightfully robbing them of the chance to charge you extra. In this strapless mode, you still have three large grab handles on the top, side, and bottom.
Photograph: Jeremy WhiteThe whole shebang weighs just 2 pounds 7 ounces and easily carries more than enough for a weeklong trip. Moreover, when I first filled the Allpa with clothes, I looked at all the extra pockets and that laptop sleeve, and then over at my Topo Designs Mountain Cross bag that I was going to bring along as well. It was immediately obvious I didn't need both. Everything—my MacBook, chargers, cables, glasses, teabags (yes, teabags)—would fit in the Allpa. And so it did.
At $230, yes, the Allpa is a considered investment. But everything Cotopaxi makes is designed to last a lifetime of airports, trains, and buses. If there's ever a problem, the company promises to repair or replace your bag, no matter how old it is.
Now, it's true I've been known to rave about a nice bag or two, but for a travel companion that's as solidly built as this sustainability-minded, sharply designed, and genuinely one-of-a-kind carrier, a couple of hundred bucks feels like a fair deal for this Cotopaxi—especially if you like its looks enough to carry it for the next decade. I think I do.
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