It’s a dark day when your beloved messenger bag finally gives up on you, but it does mean hunting around to find a new one. Having traveled the high street and all of the major retailers and brands online, we’ve narrowed it down to selection below as our best messenger bags for men, which should give you a good range of choices and style ideas if you’ve found yourself in the same situation as us.
The classic Dunlop messenger
A big favourite of ours is the classic Dunlop messenger bag, as it’s incredibly well priced (ranging from £20-£30 online), has a lot of space to stash your things in and comes in a wide variety of different colours, styles and material choices. Visit our Dunlop bags page to see more options.
AdvertisementThe Fred Perry alternative
While they’re not quite as cool as the Dunlop messenger bags, they do make for a good alternative if you prefer Fred Perry to the old DAP legends. They’re a little more expensive, averaging around £50, but they look very similar to the Dunlop bags with a similar size and colour/style/material variants.
The plush Barbour leather satchel
Taking things up a notch in terms of doubloons, this Barbour leather satchel will probably last you a lifetime, and still end up looking very stylish when you’re hover boarding down Carnaby Street in 2055. It’s a whopping £249, but it will probably outlive all of the other bags in our best of list. You can probably argue that a satchel does not a messenger bag make, but if you can put some messages in it and courier them around town then that’s good enough for us. Barbour also made it in to our cool mens holdalls list, and we’ve never been on a fox hunt in our lives, so they must be doing something right with their bags.
You’re the BOSS
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The black BOSS Nilbio reporter bag is also high up on the price tag front, and while it probably doesn’t have the same longevity quotient, it is pretty stylish. Though it is smaller than the Dunlop and Fred Perry messenger bags, it’s bigger on the inside; a bit like a well fluffed Germanic TARDIS in bag form.
P-p-p-pick up a Penguin (bag)
A surprise entry, the Penguin original messenger bag turns out to be an easy addition to our list of best bags for men with a good price at just £40, a lot of room for maneouvre and a relaxed style. Though it could easily be used as a work bag if you can get away with the lack of formality, it’s definitely a winner for Uni bag or weekend trips to the museum, Alton Towers or Llandudno.
AdvertisementBack to the Barbour
With a second entry in our best messenger bags list, Barbour are smashing it at the moment (or, they’re paying us one million dollers to big dem up… sadly it’s the former). This time it’s their Longthorpe waxed cotton effort, with a timeless style and rugged build quality, which should also stand the test of time. It’ll set you back £119, so while it’s more than half the price of the leather satchel above, it’s still on the upper reaches of our top ten.
Super Ted
Baker, that is, with a nice contrast dispatch bag that’s got some similarities to the Dunlop and Fred Perry options above. The dark navy works well with the blue and black stripes down the middle and at just £49 it’s still pretty affordable for a designer bag.
Vin Diesel
Every now and again Diesel comes out fighting with a great look and that’s the case again with this Postie messenger bag. It’s got some natty inner pockets, a simple monotone style and a fair amount of room to store your crap in. It’s £80, so pricey, but not a shocker.
Another consonant… Sandqvist bags!
Though the brand has a little less room for vowels than most, this black messenger bag works very well, with a classic dark style, thick canvas material and simple features. It’s a bit of a hefter, but for £99 you’d expect to be able to fit a fair amount of stuff into it.
Rocha and out
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You can’t have a best messenger bags list without fitting in at least a little Khaki and this one from RJR.John Rocha is the best we can find. It’s got poise and gravitas, while also being about as blokey as a bag can get without hanging an axe, chain mace and twin sai from the flaps.
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