Founded in Vancouver in 2009, Herschel Supply Co. has certainly taken the world by storm.
Specializing in backpacks, travel goods and accessories, with a great eye for color and design, they’ve made their mark in updating classic designs with modern colors and features.
And of course, they have a wide variety of fanny packs, excuse me, we don’t call them fanny packs anymore – but sling bags and hip packs. Or bum bags? Does anyone still use that term?
Designed to be worn over the shoulder, on your back or across the chest, modern sling bags are definitely not your grandparent’s fanny packs.
Although obviously inspired by fanny packs, today’s hip bags are more flexible, allowing for cross body use, as a chest pack, or even slung over one shoulder. But of course, you can always throw them on your hips, especially great if you’re hiking, or if you’re sweating through your shirt.
Sling bags are not only for adding some streetwear cred to your everyday look, they’re great for emptying your pockets, or for carrying just a little bit more, without having to lug around a backpack. Even the smallest backpack feels bulky compared to a sling with generous capacity.
Herschel Seventeen Hip Pack and Sling Bag
Size:
- Length: 13 inches
- Height: 6.5 inches
- Depth: 3.5 inches
- Capacity: 3.5 Liters
This is Herschel’s most popular sling bag, and with good reason. It’s the perfect everyday size.
Whether it’s for grocery runs, walks in the park with a baby, or a run around the block with your dog, or a weekend in Disneyland, this is the perfect size to carry all your essentials.
With a ‘just right’ capacity of 3.5 liters, it can easily fit your wallet, keys, sanitizer, wipes, a battery pack, your charger, a small camera, earbuds, sunglasses, everything you need.
The main compartment is just one big compartment, with no pockets or dividers.
There is one smaller external pocket, with a waterproof zipper and a key clip inside.
In classic Herschel fashion, the strap is nice and wide, but not too wide.
There is a nice, quick release buckle, for easier removal of the bag when worn over one shoulder.
There is also a nice little clip that will take care of any excess strap.
It’s well designed, it’s the perfect size, and it looks great. This just might be the best Herschel sling bag for most people.
Check the current price and available colors for the Herschel Seventeen here.
Herschel Fourteen Sling Bag and Hip Pack
Size:
- Length: 8 inches
- Height: 5.5 inches
- Depth: 2.5 inches
- Capacity: 1 Liter
With a 1 liter capacity, this is one of Herschel’s smallest sling bags.
It doesn’t get more simple than this. This bag is like one small bucket, just one compartment, with no frills. Nice and simple. There are no dividers, there are no pockets anywhere, inside or externally.
This is perfect for your phone, some lip gloss/balm, wallet, hotel key card, subway card.
This is great for festivals, or just running around town.
It does what a good tiny sling bag does – it empties your pockets, without making you feel like you’re carrying a real bag around.
The adjustable strap is typical Herschel, it’s nice and sturdy, with a high quality composite plastic buckle.
Even if all you carry all day is a phone and wallet, this is still a great accessory to add some color or flair to your daily look.
NOTE: If you want the black version with a black Herschel logo on the front, you have to look for the “Black-Light” model. The normal “black” version has the white logo on the front. The “black – light” model is made of a more relaxed material than the normal “classics” versions.
There is also a “black – sherpa” model, which also has a blacked out logo, but this one is made of fleece.
Check the current price and availability for the Herschel Fourteen Hip and Sling bag here.
Herschel Tour Pack – Medium
Size:
- Length: 12 inches
- Height: 6 inches
- Depth: 4 inches
- Capacity: 6 Liters
This is the larger of Herschel’s Tour Hip Pack, which they generously rate as being 10 Liters. But, it’s not really, not even close. I’d estimate it to be about 5-6 Liters in actual capacity.
But despite that, this is a quality sling bag, made of water resistant nylon. The main compartment as a two-way weather resistant zipper. There is a smaller external pocket, which is also protected with a small rain flap.
The inside is one big compartment, with a tiny, tiny pouch just below the key clip, designed to store your keys (to keep them from scratching your other items).
The back has some mesh padding, which helps with sweaty backs, and also adds to comfort, especially if you’ve got a lot of non-flat objects in your bag.
This is the perfect bag for a Nintendo Switch or a small mirrorless camera like the Fuji X100V, for example.
Overall, if you’re looking for something that can take a bit more than the Seventeen hip pack, this is a great option.
Check current pricing and available colors for the Herschel Tour – Medium version here.
Herschel Tour Hip Pack – Small
Size:
- Length: 7 inches
- Height: 5 inches
- Depth: 2.5 inches
- Capacity: 1 Liter
This is the smaller version of Herschel’s Tour Hip Pack (see above), and it’s the same design as the Medium bag, but in a much smaller 1 liter capacity.
Like it’s big brother, it’s also made with water resistant materials, with a two-way zipper for the main compartment. There is a small outside pocket, with the zipper protected by a flap. But because this is a much smaller bag, the outside pocket is now really small, and is much less useful.
Unlike the Medium Tour bag, the small one does not have the mesh padding on the back. Not that you really need it for a bag this small.
One interesting Herschel did with this bag is to display the bag’s dimensions on the outside of the bag. Aside from the Herschel logo, you’ll see 5.0×7.0x2.5 (the bag’s dimensions, in inches) sewn onto the face of the bag. Look closely at the top right part of the bag in the pic above, and you’ll see it.
This is a great bag for emptying your pockets, and for those who have a minimal everyday carry (EDC) set-up.
Check current prices and available colorways for the Herschel Tour – Small version here.
Herschel Eighteen Sling Bag
Size:
- Length: 11 inches
- Height: 7 inches
- Depth: 3 inches
- Capacity: 6 Liters
The ‘Eighteen’ is probably Herschel’s most distinctive looking hip/sling bag. That’s all thanks to it’s two external pockets.
This is their bulkiest sling bag, because of the way the strap attaches to the bag, with some additional fabric for comfort.
If you’re looking to for a bag to actually wear as a fanny pack, and not as a sling – this is probably the most comfortable one. The extra fabric near the straps help in keeping the bag comfortable around your hips.
Be warned though, the two external pockets are very small, and a bit hard to get to. It’s good for some airpods or earphones, but not great for anything larger. It’s not really great for coins either, especially if you want quick access. It’s an unfortunate trade off with the rain flap on the zippers. There just isn’t enough space to maneuver the zippers open.
There is some nice mesh padding on the back, and the main compartment is your usual one big compartment, with no pockets or dividers.
On the bottom of the bag, you can find two utility straps, useful for carrying a jacket or sweater.
The limited use of the two front pockets aside, overall, this is still a great sling bag, as long as you don’t mind the extra bulk compared to the other bags. It’s a great trail bag – enough space for snacks, and all your essentials.
And those two front pockets contribute a lot to its great looks, too.
Check the current prices and available colors for the Herschel Eighteen Hip and Sling bag here.
Herschel Nineteen Sling Bag
Size:
- Length: 10 inches
- Height: 6 inches
- Depth: 3.25 inches
- Capacity: 3 Liters
The nineteen is a personal favorite here at UrbanCarry, especially the Cordura versions. At 3 Liters, it’s large enough to fit a lot, without feeling bulky at all.
We can even fit our mirrorless camera with two small lenses (Fujifilm X-E3 and a 23mm lens, with a 50mm lens). There are no dividers, so we just wrap some thin lens cloth around the lenses to keep them from scratching each other.
There are two interior mesh pockets, and an exterior zippered pocket, concealed with a rain flap.
Overall, this is a surprisingly roomy bag (without looking like it can hold a ton), great for those who carry a bit more every day.
Check current prices and available colorways for the Herschel Nineteen bag here.
Herschel Fifteen Sling Bag
Size:
- Length: 10 inches
- Height: 6 inches
- Depth: 3.25 inches
- Capacity: 3 Liters
The Fifteen is a popular Herschel sling bag for women. It’s a unisex design, but it’s popular with the ladies. It’s been described as the perfect bag for mama’s – baby mama’s and even dog mama’s.
There is also an excellent Hello Kitty collection, with some really nice designs, including a Hello Kitty bow on the strap.
Similar to the “Fourteen” sling bag (above), the Fifteen has a bucket style no-frills design. There are no outside pockets, just one big compartment for all your daily carry. There are no pockets on the inside.
The adjustable strap is nice and wide, with a clip for any excess strap.
This is a fantastic stylish alternative to a purse, great for keeping your hands free.
Check current prices and colors for the Herschel Fifteen Sling bag here.
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