Tote Bags vs. Messenger Bags – Who’s King of the Carriers?

A glance at the cotton statistics: the Spreadshirt Trend Report, Nr. 36 / September 2011

Boston, August 31,2011: Over the course of their lives women spend 76 days rummaging around in their handbags, which they use to store items worth €800. This is according to the findings of a daily newspaper in Germany. So Spreadshirt are convinced that a woman’s bag, with which she spends so much of her time, shouldn’t just be any old off-the-rack number. Today’s look at the cotton statistics reveals the country where the highest numbers of personalized bags are sold, as well as which bag model it is the Danes prefer – and they certainly stand out from the crowd.

Spreadshirt’s range includes 10 different bags, all of which you can personalize for yourself. In the US, the most popular piece is rectangular, practical and looks great. With 32.7% of sales, the Messenger Bag is the best seller, closely followed by the Eco-Friendly Cotton Bag (26.1%) and the Small Tote Bag (18.9%). On the other side of the Pond, the Dutch, Norwegians and Poles have similar tastes when it comes to their choice of bag, also preferring the Messenger Bag to all the other models. In Germany they don’t just use Tote Bags to carry their freshly baked bread rolls in the morning; right now, there is no more practical or fashionable accessory for the Germans. So it’s no surprise to hear that, with 32.2%, it’s the Germans’ favorite bag model. What the ladies over in Denmark carry about in their bags remains something of a mystery – they probably don’t really have much of an idea themselves, because their favorite, the Duffel Bag, is so spacious that a gal can easily lose track!

Another interesting nugget: iPads have still yet to dethrone the humble laptop. At least that’s what Spreadshirt’s sales figures suggest. After all, half of all protective sleeves ordered are for notebooks, compared to just 17.5% for iPads.

Spreadshirt customers’ color concept is pretty straightforward. A subtle bag color is bursting with benefits. It matches just about every outfit, and with the right design – preferably one with plenty of bold colors – it can be a real eye-catcher. The most popular colors for the Tote Bag are white and black, and whenever the Messenger Bag is scanned at the virtual tills, most often it’s in black. The backpack is brand new to the Spreadshirt range. Still, having only been about for a month, it’s already up there among the top 5 bags for August. Any yes, you’ve guessed it – the most commonly ordered color is black.

Bags make up 1.7% of all European orders from the past 12 months, and this figure is on the increase. On the other hand, North America has seen a slight drop in bags’ share of orders since last year – orders for bags currently average less than 1%.

Of course, there isn’t a day when women leave the house without their beloved portable treasure trove, but there are seasonal differences when it comes to sales patterns. Worldwide, less bags are sold on average in the spring months, while in the last few weeks of the year they pretty much fly off of the shelves.

The Trend Report is designed to deliver a monthly insight into new trends in the universe of individualized clothing.

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