Your favorite gym/lunch/tote bag

March 27, 2018 9:53 AM

Hi All, I would like a bag where I can carry my gym clothes, sneakers & lunch. Ideally, this bag would have a seperate compartment for each: my sneakers, lunch & clothes with 2 shoulder straps like a purse.

Right now, I am using a suede hobo type bag and lining up things in there (with my sneakers in it's own pouch) without any other seperation. But while I like the straps, this is difficult because the bag is both very wide and long so I have to rummage through to find things.

I have ordered 2 gym duffles from amazon that have seperate shoe compartments but I find the bag to be too bulky to carry as I walk 30 minutes to work and that I have to use the cross body strap which brings me to my next issue. I find it awkward to carry duffles with the small handles and painful & annoying to carry it with the long cross body strap. Also, after the gym, I go out or have meetings and would like to show up with something nice that could pass as a purse/nice bag.

Ideally, I would love to find a bag that looks like a nice purse on the outside, has 2 straps that I can carry on my shoulder and has at least 2 compartments along with some pockets for water bottles, wallet and is less than $50. If you have something that meets most of those criteria, I'd be willing to give up the rest because I'm convinced this bag doesn't exist!

Thanks all!

posted by PeaPod to Shopping (11 answers total)

Are you able to sew? Because I too was on a quest for the perfect gym bag and couldn't find it so I finally just made my own last week. It has all the compartments I wanted, including a separate pouch for my sneakers, separate sections for clean clothes vs. towels/gym clothes, etc. The fabric is a durable canvas that I got in the clearance section from the fabric store. Biggest cost was the strap, but even that was 7$.

It bares stating that now that I have been using the one I made I do have some alterations I wish to make, so I will probably be making a GymBag 2.0 in the near future, but even then I don't think the cost will hit $50.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 10:02 AM on March 27, 2018

It doesn't meet your less than $50 criteria (it's stupidly expensive multiples of $50), but the OMG by Lo & Sons might work otherwise, or give you some ideas for feature names to search for when looking for another bag.
posted by snaw at 10:06 AM on March 27, 2018

My grocery store sells a wine bag that is made of that cheap pressed material, but it holds 4 wine bottles upright. Might work as an insert in a nice bag.
posted by theora55 at 10:10 AM on March 27, 2018

I would look for a zip top nylon tote. Here's an example. If you find the perfect bag but the compartments are lacking you can get a separate organizer insert.
posted by jennypower at 10:15 AM on March 27, 2018

I am not the biggest fan of their clothes, but I've been happy with the variety of Lululemon bags I've owned. This zip top tote is a little more than your price point at $58, but seems versatile and simple to function for multi use. They have a couple of other totes that are more than 2x your limit, but are great on pockets and I think look a little more streamlined. Bonus, that most of their bags come with a separate, matching drawstring shoe pouch.
posted by raztaj at 10:28 AM on March 27, 2018

This BetaBrand bag is what I use for work every day and it fits all of your criteria except price (It's $78, but they do have coupon codes for new customers usually.)

Also, I can vouch for putting more than what they show in the photos inside this bag.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 10:43 AM on March 27, 2018

I got a Dagne Dover bag (the Allyn) for Christmas. It's also more expensive than $50, but really well made and well designed, and I might love it a little bit more than some of my nieces and nephews....just a little. They have several styles. One of them gym-bag ish.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 12:12 PM on March 27, 2018

Here's another bag that might be close but again, is out of your price range: the Lug Puddle Jumper. It has a shoe compartment, two straps (and a removable cross-body strap) and a strap on the back to attach it to wheeled luggage. I use mine as a carry-on/overnight bag, but I've seen many commuters using this bag for work. I can't remember offhand if it's got enough separation in the main pocket for your gym clothes versus your lunch, but it might. There are other bags on the site that may work for you there as well, but I don't think any of them will meet your price criteria. Lug bags are expensive, but they hold up really well, and are both cheerful and useful. If you're in the US they'll likely be a bit cheaper (I've linked to the Canadian site), and I think they do sales on QVC ('sale' might be relative, but I don't shop there so who knows?)

They do make a 'packable' version of the Puddle Jumper that costs less. That's what I'm using for my gym bag right now. No shoe compartment, but it has two straps and smushes down well in a half-size gym locker. I'm not carrying my lunch in it so it works for me, but might not work for your needs. Good luck - having the right bag makes taking stuff places so much easier.
posted by melissa at 12:27 PM on March 27, 2018

I have a Lo & Sons OMG bag and it ticks all your boxes.

I have to say though, that its pockets ended up being (at least in my case) more of a constraint than a benefit. I now use a really simple tote bag (actually a knockoff Longchamp bag I got on Amazon for $20) and tuck my shoes, clothes, lunch and snack into that one bag, all loosey-goosey. I do bring a mesh laundry bag that takes up no space, in case I feel like being organized with my work clothes (in my case, I work out after I end my day at the office, so my gym clothes “live” in the tote bag and my work clothes get stashed in the bag during my workout and commute home). However I mostly don’t even bother with the mesh bag. I find it adds a lot of bother with not a lot of benefit. Likewise I found the shoe compartment of the Lo & Sons bag to be better in theory than practice - for some reason I always struggled with inserting my perfectly-normal-sized shoes into the dang pocket! Just more trouble than it was worth - a simple zip-up tote bag has served me best, even when I would have described my needs the same way you described yours.
posted by samthemander at 11:11 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Look at some backpack style diaper bags. Maybe you can get a deal at an r us. I find they usually have space and compartments and cooler areas and they are usually not openly diaper baggy without a baby in tow
posted by WeekendJen at 3:01 PM on March 28, 2018

Just wanting to second the knockoff Longchamp bag from Amazon mentioned by samthemander. I do have a separate lunch bag, but it could easily fit in the knockoff bag along with my gym gear, including shoes.

After many years of trying and failing to find my unicorn bag, which sounds like your unicorn bag, I've reverted again to the simple zip-top tote.
posted by sillymama at 3:21 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]