We asked a customer to carry a single tote for a working week and tell us what she learned.
The idea of one good bag is easy to like and harder to live. So we asked Rhea, an architect in Bengaluru and a long-time customer, to carry only her Harlow tote for five days and keep notes.
Monday: the office
Laptop, charger, notebook, a steel bottle. Rhea used a small pouch for cables so they did not sink to the bottom. Her note for the day: an open tote works if you give everything a place.
Tuesday: a site visit
Dust, a hard hat and a long walk. She wore flat shoes, carried the tote on one shoulder and wiped it down with a dry cloth in the evening. The leather picked up a scuff on the base, which she rubbed out with her thumb.
Wednesday: dinner after work
No time to go home. She took the laptop out and left it in a desk drawer, tied a silk scarf to one handle and went straight to the restaurant. A tote looks different when it is half empty and the handles fall together.
Thursday: travel
An early flight to Mumbai. The tote went under the seat with a book, a shawl and a clutch inside it. At the other end, the clutch came out for the evening. Her note: carry a small bag inside the big one.
Friday: nothing much
A quiet day, coffee with a friend, a visit to the market. Phone, wallet, keys and a bag of oranges on the way home.
What she learned
Rhea told us she had expected to miss her other bags and mostly did not. Three things made it work. A neutral colour that asked nothing of her clothes. A shape with no fixed mood, neither formal nor casual. And a few small pieces, a pouch and a clutch, that changed what the bag could do.
She also said the tote looked better on Friday than on Monday. Five days of handling had begun to soften it. That is the part we like best.
