When you’re not carrying a laptop, all you might really carry are your phone, keys, a wallet, maybe a water bottle. The Code of Bell X-POD is a great response to that.

How did our everyday bags shrink over the past decade?

You may have noticed this either in yourself, or in the people around us. It seems pretty self-explanatory; carrying a full-sized backpack to run down to the pharmacy or withdraw cash at the nearest ATM is cumbersome. The rise of modern street fashion also gave way to the reincarnation of the fanny pack as the ‘belt bag,’ which in turn opened up not just our arm/hand space, but more possibilities and options for the bags we can carry.

The rise in smaller bags is not a recent phenomenon, however. Cyclical is the nature of fashion, and history will tell us that the earliest proto-bags were small animal hide or plant fibre pouches that were hung from a belt around the waist, the word ‘bag’ itself dates back to around 1200 CE to the Norse baggi which means “pack” or “bundle,” and that it was the advent of pockets that made these smaller pockets fall out of fashion at the end of the Middle Ages.

We then return to the mini-bags of today;  innovations in technology and functionality led to bags breaking free from the various points in history where they were either assigned to specific situations, not valued in their potential for aesthetic, or even gendered. In the 2010’s, Streetwear ascended into luxury fashion and brought about a complete shakeup of the fashion industry. Where high fashion once dictated trends from the top down, the order was reversed and major trends began to form on the street first. Men’s fashion leaning into sportswear reversed the vehemently malicious dialogue that once surrounded fanny-packs and slowly turned them into the status symbol they are today.

Whether or not you might adhere to the cycle of trends in fashion, history and the trend cycle are the answer to why our bags got smaller this past decade. It is interesting to note however, that as smartphones get bigger, so do the number of daily essentials we end up carrying. We find that, like trends, the initial problem comes full circle: our small bags are now becoming cumbersome.

When you’re not carrying a laptop, all you might really carry are your phone, keys, a wallet, maybe a water bottle. The Code of Bell X-POD is a great response to that. This classic fanny pack/belt bag is recontextualised for today’s fast-paced, active, and demanding lifestyle. Its size is optimal in keeping you free and agile, allowing you to carry more than just your wallet or passport yet doing so without weighing you down. The X-POD II features a rear pass-through sleeve to store the shoulder strap when packing for trips, and comes in limited edition colors Desert Gold, Skyfall Grey, Fuji White, and the regular Pitch Black.