Don't Be a Douchebag, Wear One

Like most women, I love bags. And like most Southern women, the bigger the bag, the better.The Carryall 65L from Douchebag is not only the perfect bag for travel, it's the perfect bag for life's everyday adventures.MORE Features & Advice Now before I get into the design and functionality of the Carryall, let’s first address the elephant in the room. “Douchebags?” Really?! Did they name the company that...on purpose?Nowhere in the About section of the company’s website is the name ever addressed. It sounds like a name two frat boys at my alma mater UGA would come up with after a night of bar hopping in downtown Athens.I imagine the convo went something like this:“Dude, we should totally start a company making bags and call it ‘Douchebags’!”“Bruh, that is epic. Let’s do it!”In actuality, the owners, Swedish professional skier Jon Olsson and Norwegian designer Truls Brataas met surfing in Hoddevik, Norway. They bonded over the need for better bags that could make traveling with skis and gear a whole lot easier and the name?? The name sorta just happened."Later on, we did a contest on my blog about the name, where we got several hundreds of suggestions," Olsson said. "During that contest, “douchebags” came up many times, and it got us thinking: “Is it possible?” In our company guidelines we have “redefining” and “rebel” as our main goal, so if you want to take on the big guys, why not make sure they notice you? And so we decided to make a fuzz and go for it."The risk paid off. After all, if the goal was to keep people talking about the line...mission accomplished.Ok. Now that that's out of the way, let’s talk about the specs. The bag is 14 inches wide, 24 inches tall and 12 inches deep. Weighing only 3.5 pounds, the bag is super light and was clearly designed with maximum cargo and practicality in mind. It's also collapsible, making storing it away when not in use easy. However in the words of Aladdin, "It’s Not What’s Outside, But What Is Inside That Counts."Y'all. On the inside, this bag is super spacious. I was also pleasantly surprised with the well-placed mesh pockets inside and the strategically deep pocket placed on top of the bag for easy access to your essentials. It is large enough for several changes of clothing and multiple pairs of shoes (assuming you’re not packing multiple pairs of your favorite riding boots). As a matter of fact, if you are a careful and strategic packer, I suspect you will be able to get well more than a weekend’s worth of outfits in there with room left to spare.I particularly love that it can be transformed on demand from a backpack to a duffel bag, and back again within seconds. I chose to leave mine in backpack form because let's face it...I don't want to carry another bag in my hand. I much prefer my shoulders and back do all the work.The bag seems very well built, so I expect to be happily using it for many years to come. As frequently as I travel with our toddler, I love bags that I can easily fit my key travel items, such as my camera gear, laptop and outfits and all of his stuff and this bag definitely fits the bill. Though it is missing a dedicated laptop sleeve, with the proper insert, it can house my all of photography equipment, laptop included, allowing it to travel safely from point A to point B. Oh yea, I have no doubt this is going to be my new favorite carry-on for trips.Overall, this bag is super stylish, practical enough for everyday-life use (new chic gym bag anyone?), it fits the IATA maximum carry-on limits, and is very well constructed. What more could you ask for in a bag, you ask? Well, the price— obviously.Coming in an array of colors, the Douchebag Caryall40L costs $179 shipped. Though it may be a pretty penny, for a quality piece of luggage that does the job well and is mama-approved, it is definitely worth the investment.