Drawstring Backpack

Two cords run through channels along the sides of a flat fabric sack, and that is the whole bag. Pull them and the top gathers shut. Hook them over your shoulders and the same cords become the straps. One piece of cord doing two jobs is the entire design. It explains both the few dollars these cost and the fact that they weigh almost nothing empty.

The cord passes through reinforced bottom corners, usually a triangle of vinyl or webbing, and that corner is the only real engineering present. When it tears out, the bag is finished. Because the strap is a round cord perhaps 5 mm across, the load concentrates on a narrow line over each shoulder. Anything past about five pounds turns painful in under a mile. There is no back panel either, so a shoe sole or a bottle presses straight into you, and the gathered top never seals, which means rain runs in through the puckered opening.

No other backpack in this family closes with its own straps, and that is the whole distinction. Mini backpacks are small but properly built, with padded straps and a zip. Fashion backpacks share the drawstring closure on many models but hide it under a flap and carry the bag on separate leather straps. Set beside a plain tote at the same price, this wins on keeping your hands free and loses badly on comfort under any real weight.

Gyms, pools, race days and festivals are the use. Somewhere you need to carry damp clothes or a towel and would rather not risk a good bag. It folds into its own volume, so one lives in a suitcase as a spare. Parents use them for children's kit. Laptops, cameras and anything with a corner do not belong inside. Daily commuting is the wrong use too, since the cord marks a bare shoulder in summer and cuts through a thin shirt by the second week.

Examine the bottom corners first and last, because that is where every one of these fails. A stitched patch with a bar tack, meaning a dense line of reverse stitching, holds far longer than one glued on. Coated nylon beats plain polyester if you will carry wet gear, since the coating stops water wicking through the weave. Turn it inside out and air it after the gym, as these hold damp in the corner seams and go musty within days.