Uniqlo 2Way Utility Bag

I’ve written a fair amount now about Yoshida & Co’s Porter line of bags, and once you start diving down that rabbit hole, you’ll quickly find that Uniqlo makes some bags which look awfully similar to Tanker bags, but at a price well under $50. Which is crazy. I picked up the Uniqlo 2Way Utility Bag in Japan to see if the bag is any good and how it compares.

I am very torn. This is decidedly not up to quality standards of Porter, and it’s lacking some of the better Porter features. The design is very similar to Porter, and I loathe copies when I buy stuff. That said, for the price, this is a very good bag to buy. I suspect most people will see this well before they see the Tanker Helmet and Tote bags it is copying.

Specs & Materials

Let’s start with the materials, which are surprisingly well executed:

Shell: 100% Polyester

Filling: 100% Polyester

Lining: 100% Polyester

Shoulder Tape: 100% Polyester

So it’s, uh, polyester. The material has a very matte finish with a soft hand. It is ‘padded’ just like the tanker bags, but the implementation here feels much different, and not in a good way. There’s two magnetic snap style buttons which hold the front pockets secure, and a nice enough zipper to close the main compartment.

The size is robust:

Width (Bottom): 13.4″

Height: 15″

Depth: 6.3″

Capacity: 26 Liters

The bag feels a little smaller than the stated capacity to me, but it is quite large so I won’t quibble too much on that. Though I would peg it closer to 22 on the high end.

The build quality is nothing special, but nothing bad either. Actually fairly impressive given the price point.

In Use

I’ve been using this for packing, for trips, and heading out to work. It’s a solid option but lacking in a few key ways which make the bag a little harder to use.

As the name suggests, there’s two ways to carry this bag: shoulder strap, or handles. The handles are well executed and make the bag very easy to carry. The shoulder strap leaves a lot to be desired. It’s hard to carry this bag on one shoulder with the strap as it tends to want to slip off my shoulder given the general size of the bag, but also the smoothness of the strap.

Carrying the bag cross body is the best option with the shoulder strap, but is rather awkward to carry. When the bag is quite full, it feels like it protrudes when being carried this way. When less full, it very much hugs your body as it wraps around you. I’ve found it’s not comfortable to carry for any extended period of time with the shoulder strap if the bag is very full.

The front two pockets are the best executed area of the bag. The magnetic button closures work extremely well, and make getting in and out of the pockets quite easy overall. I am a huge fan of this, as the pockets on the Porter Tanker line can be a lot more cumbersome to get in and out of by comparison. The only trade-off is security, as the pockets here are on the face of the bag and much easier to get into because of the ease of the magnetic snaps. Additionally, when stuffed, the snaps sometimes do not have enough retention to stay snapped and will come loose.

The main compartment has a zipper closure, though it is open at each end, and one hanging pocket and two inner pockets. None of these secure shut. There’s no laptop sleeve in the way. The zipper is nice enough, but has a longer tail which I am constantly fighting with to get into the correct position to unzip the bag. I only use the zipper when flying, otherwise I leave it undone for ease of use.

The bag completely lacks structure, which is perhaps the biggest downside. It will not sit on the floor without leaning on something and can be quite frustrating in general when trying to neatly place the bag out of the way. (The Porter bags, generally, do not have this same issue despite being similar.) Once you add in a laptop, or use the pockets, stuff gets even more frustrating. I’ve found that with a laptop, one pouch, and one notebook — things quickly end up laying at a sharp angle inside the bag, which digs into your side and makes the bag very annoying to carry.

The best success I’ve had with this bag is carrying soft items like clothing, rather than tech related items for working. Soft items pack better in this bag, and it’s overall more accommodating to holding them.

Overall

This bag is not even remotely close to being the bag it is copying. The price is the best attribute of this bag. It should be a great daily bag, and personal item for flying with, but unless you never carry a device, you’ll be annoyed using it for that.

Still, I would be hard pressed to say you should not buy this, but rather than you should buy this with the idea that it is nothing more than a fancy tote bag, rather than a potential work bag. I know many who prefer simple tote bags, and for them, this might be a gem of a bag.

Buy here, $39