Are you looking for the best sling bag for your trip? You’re in the right place then. In this guide, we’ll help you muddle through the many options and pick the sling that suits you perfectly. With a sling bag, you have a convenient carrier for your essentials while looking stylish.
Sling bags are the current go-to for many travelers. Even if you’re only going out for a casual stroll, slings are still one of the best bag options. If you want to get in on the trend, read the rest of the article to find out how to find the best sling bag for you.
What Is a Sling Bag?
What’s a sling bag? Sling bags are small, packable bags worn on the shoulder or across the chest or back. You wear it over your head, sitting tight against your body for easy access to your important belongings.
Most sling bags have an off-center buckle attached to straps that connect diagonally in front of your body. They come in different styles and sizes but are most often shaped like an oblong, which adds to how they fit comfortably against the body.
Sling Bag vs. Messenger Bag
The thing about sling bags is you might confuse them with messenger bags. They look similar, yes, with the cross-shoulder/cross-body single strap. However, they are not the same. But if you look at them closely, messenger bags are often bigger and boxier. Unlike sling packs, they don’t contour to your body. It’s hard to determine if it’s a messenger bag or not at first glance but we’re sure you’ll see the difference when you actually see the bag.
Sling Bag vs. Hip Pack
Another type of bag you might confuse with a sling bag is the hip pack. Hips packs are also known as fanny packs, waist packs, belt bags, or bum bags. They do look similar in a way, but they aren’t the same thing. To explain, hip packs are just an updated fanny pack while sling bags are an entirely different type. Also, hip packs you wear on your hip or waist, while sling bags you put on your body or shoulder.
Now, these definitions and rules are what we can find online but don’t take them as absolutes. Companies and brands tend to have their own definition or explanation of what a sling bag, hip pack, or messenger bag is, making it all the more confusing. For the most part, our advice is to just follow your instinct.
Is a Sling Bag a Crossbody Bag?
Yes, a sling bag is also a cross-body bag. However, not all cross-body bags are sling bangs. How so? Remember messenger bags? You can wear both sling bags and messenger bags across your body. It’s hard to sling or maneuver a bulkier messenger bag through your body, which definitely makes it not a sling bag.
Why Choose a Sling Bag?
Now you understand what a sling bag is and can distinguish it from other similarly-looking bags. But why would you choose to have this bag, though? What makes it the best choice for what you need and a much better pick than other options? Well, let us tell you about that in the next part of the article:
Keeps Small In-Flight Items
One of the best reasons to use a sling bag is the fact it lets you carry small items while you’re out and about. Just put your essentials in the sling, throw it around your shoulder, and you’re ready to breeze through the day, particularly with going through airport security.
Some of the items you might fit into your sling bag include your:
- Smartphone
- Headphones/earphones
- Charger
- USB cables
- Power bank
- Earplugs
- Eye mask
- Book or e-reader
- Notebook and pen
- Tissues
- Snacks
- Wallet
The convenience of sling bags makes them perfect for tourists. While in-flight, you can quickly access important items like tissues and snacks. Or if you get bored and don’t fancy watching a movie, you can have your e-reader or notebook and pen on hand.
Keeps Day Trip Essentials
Just like with being able to carry your in-flight items, sling bags let you carry your day trip essentials close. Your pocket may be enough to carry things like your wallet, phone, and keys, but you probably have more to bring when traveling.
There are a few extra things you want to bring, such as:
- Alcohol or sanitizer
- Wipes
- Makeup
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
And like before, you might want to bring your headphones, power bank, maybe a Nintendo Switch, notebook and pen, tissues, charger, and snacks. If you think a backpack is too much for these items, a sling bag could be the right bag for you.
Lightweight, Packable, and Easy to Carry
Sling bags are usually packable, lightweight, and easy to carry, especially those made especially for traveling. They usually weigh close to nothing, so they remain relatively lightweight even after fitting plenty of your pocketable essentials. Packing them is easy enough – just lay the bag flat in your luggage, they won’t take up much space.
Provides Easy Access to Your Items
You probably realize it by now but it’s super easy to get items in and out of a sling bag. Wear the bag on your chest and you can take things out of it from under your nose easy-peasy. You can also wear the bag on your back and move it around to your front to get what you need. Not having to remove the bag entirely when you need to get something in or out makes it a great choice if you will be navigating through crowds.
Keeps Your Items Secured
Custom sling bag provide an extra safe way to carry your pocketable essentials. This is thanks to being able to position the bag in a way that thieves will have a hard time accessing your belongings. Unlike backpacks which anyone can open since they’re at your back, accessing a sling bag is difficult since you can carry it in front or close to your body. With sling bags, you are more aware and have better control of your valuables.
Versatile and Stylish
As we said before, sling bags are the rage right now, thanks to being stylish and versatile. They are currently in style, so much so that you will see them anywhere. Even brands like Nike and Louis Vuitton have sling bags in various styles and sizes. You have many sling bag options to match different travel situations or styles, whether you are meeting with friends, attending a casual event, hiking, or exploring a city.
Finding the Best Sling Bag
We understand how looking for the best custom sling bag can be challenging. Don’t worry, though. We’ll help you find a sling bag that suits your style and needs.
What You Need in a Sling Bag
Before looking for the best sling bag, you will want to know what you want first. Think, “How will you use it? What will you use the bag for?” Since we are looking for a sling for traveling, you want a lightweight, durable, and compact sling.
The bag has to last you at least months, ideally for years. And of course, it has to be stylish and versatile so it can match your clothes. Looking for the perfect sling bag will be much easier when you know what you’ll be using it for.
Available Options and Quality
Once you find what you want in your bag, you can start comparing options. Check every sling bag you think matches your tastes and needs, ensuring it has good quality and can last for more than several uses.
On that note, take notice of the fabric, straps, buckles, and zippers of the bag when you check it. We also advise looking into the company’s warranty. An excellent warranty is a sign that the company stands by the quality of its sling bag.
Things to Consider in Looking for the Perfect Travel Sling Bag
What to look for when looking for the best sling bag for travel? Read the next section of the article to understand the different factors to consider in your search.
Size and Volume
When it comes to sling bags, it’s always best to pick a smaller one since the whole point of it all is for it to be easy to sling around your shoulder. It’s not ideal to get a bigger sling and fill it with a bigger load as it will be too uncomfortable to carry. Also, it will sit awfully across your chest.
Fortunately, there are expandable sling bags. They are great for traveling since they don’t take up a lot of space when not in use but can carry a lot when you do use them. You can stuff a good amount of items into these expandable slings without them looking too bulky.
Profile
One of the important factors to consider when it comes to how comfortable and how the sling bags look is the profile. As we said before, slings have an oblong shape. The bag is designed that way so it contours with the chest and back. This is what allows the bag to hang balanced when you wear it across your body.
You have two options for the profile: tall or wide. With tall sling bags, you usually pack items vertically. You can’t wear cross-body because they sit tight against the body. On the other hand, wide slings look like a hip pack. They don’t usually sit tight against the body, so they are the right choice if you want to wear the sling across the body.
Durability and Weather Resistance
You want your stuff safe in your sling bag. So, it has to be durable, especially against weather. We said before to check the quality of the bag. In addition, it would be good to choose a weatherproofed sling that you can quickly wipe down.
The bag does not need to be overly weather-resistant—it just has to resist moisture. Sling bags are small enough to shove under your jacket during a sudden rainstorm, so it does not have to be fully waterproofed.
In terms of durability, below are some factors you want to consider:
Fabric
These days, bags are made from lots of fabrics, each with different pros and cons. But for sling bags, you want to choose materials that balance weight and capacity with durability. As we mentioned before, the bag has to be durable but still with excellent capacity while also not heavy and bulky.
With that said, let’s talk about some of the materials commonly used for sling bags:
Nylon
Nylon is a synthetic fabric, which is quite common today. It is prized for being soft, lightweight, and durable, qualities that make it suitable for a wide range of products besides sling bags. But for slings, nylon is often simply a base fabric. A complete sling bag made of nylon is infused with other fabrics, fibers, weaves, and patterns to make it durable and weather-resistant.
Polyester
Another synthetic fabric that your sling bag could be made of is polyester. Compared to nylon, polyester is generally heavier and cheaper. Although lower priced, there are sufficiently durable polyester sling bags out there. These slings are usually not made of pure polyester but mixed with other fabrics in the lining to make the bag stronger and longer-lasting. If you are looking for an inexpensive but durable enough sling, then polyester is a good choice.
Canvas
There are not a lot of canvas slings in the market, but there are some. This is the fabric that started the sling bag trend, so most of the slings of this material have a bit of an old-fashioned vibe to them, which is great if that’s what you want. There are some disadvantages to canvas slings, which include being heavier and vulnerable to abrasions. On the other hand, canvas has better weatherproofing.
Leather
Leather has been around longer than canvas, but there are not a lot of leather slings out there (less than canvas slings, probably). You will mostly find leather sling bags on runways, which doesn’t make them a good choice for traveling. It’s not just the rarity, leather is heavy, high maintenance, and sensitive to elements—traits not ideal for sling bags for travel.
The materials above are just a few of the many fabrics that sling bags are made of, but they are the most common. Also, the type of fabric is important but it is not the most important. There are other factors to consider, such as the buckles, zipper, and straps. Making sure they are high-quality is just as important.
Buckles
The buckles are one of the most important pieces of hardware that a sling bag has. If not a buckle, the bag will likely have some kind of clip. Whether clip or buckle, they must be durable because they hold the bag together. Without them, the sling is basically useless. Buckles come in metal and plastic, and we prefer the former since they are highly durable, although can be uncomfortable and weighty.
Buckles are not only important in terms of function. They also contribute to the look, feel, and style of the sling bag, which is why the buckle’s location is also important. For instance, if the buckle is in the center, the sling bag often has to be worn around the hips or shoulder, which is not ideal if you want to wear it with a backpack.
On the other hand, an off-center buckle is best worn on one shoulder. However, you will not be able to switch the sling to the other shoulder if you get tired, or you can, but it will be uncomfortable. Besides the position, also take notice of the size. Larger-sized buckles are often more uncomfortable to wear.
Zippers
No one wants the zipper of their bag to break, especially while traveling. So, of course, you want your sling bag to have trustworthy zippers. For this, the best tip is to look at brands with great reputations for making quality products. The size of the zipper is also crucial to finding the best sling bag. The common sizes range from #5 to #8. Zippers below #5 are likely to meet durability problems while those above #8 can be too big and uncomfortable.
There are also slings with purposely large zippers, which are more aesthetic. If you are fine with the discomfort and the jingling that comes with it, then it’s a fine option. Smaller size zippers are okay for the internal or less-used pockets. If you want more protection for the bag, you can also look for water-repellent zippers with polyurethane coating.
Straps
You also have to consider the straps. Sling bags usually have nylon webbing straps, which come in different widths and lengths. As you might expect, smaller sling bags often have thin straps while heavier, bigger slings have thicker straps. But besides length and width, you also have to think about the strap’s padding.
Not all sling bags have padding while others don’t have enough. It is often the bigger sling bags that have padded straps as they help make it more comfortable to carry the weight. You don’t really need thick, padded straps. We advise choosing thinner or slightly thicker padding for extra (but not too much) comfort.
Conclusion
Alright, we’re done. You now have the basic facts about sling bags, which should help you choose the best sling for your travel plan. Shop around, compare options, and look for a durable, comfortable, and stylish sling bag you will actually want to use. And if you need a custom sling bag, you’re welcome to inquire Bjarne bag manufacturer.