EDC 2.0: The Bolstr Bag

Back in 2011 I wrote about how the Marimekko Cash & Carry bag, I’d found the perfect bag for carrying around all my stuff.

In the intervening years this sort of bag has come to be known, by both preppers and hipsters, as an “EDC” bag—for every day carry. It’s a linguistic trick to avoid “purse” that I don’t think we really needed, but that’s where the SEO is now.

The Marimekko bag has served me well for almost 7 years, but has started to fall apart of late; most noticably there is an ever-widening rip in the top corner, and the top and interior zippers have started to go bad. I wrote to Marimekko about getting it fixed, but they demurred, and so I went looking for a replacement.

I ended up finding the Bolstr EDC on Kickstarter, where it’s described like this:

A few extra pockets - bolstr is the perfect crossbody bag for guys and their smartphones, keys, wallets, sunglasses, but not much more.

A lot of what you end up looking at on the end of an “EDC” Google search is from the prepper end of the spectrum: bags designed to carry keys, wallet, phone, hunting knife, ammo, dried food, matches and binoculars.

The Bolstr bag was a more modest offering, and allowed me to support a product that’s not serving the post-apocalyptic market.

And so I ordered one, and it arrived today.

First impressions are good, and the bag will be over my shoulder tomorrow for the first time.

Full review to follow when it’s got some miles on it.