You pick up a small bag in the shop and think: my phone will fit. Usually it does. But then come the keys, the earbuds, a lipstick and your sunglasses, and suddenly the fastening will not close.
The short answer: a small bag around 20 to 24 centimetres wide holds your phone, keys, a card holder or compact purse, a lipstick and earbuds. An A5 diary, a water bottle and an umbrella will not fit. Know that in advance and you will love a mini bag. Do not, and after two weeks you will be back to carrying your big tote.
What counts as a small bag, and when is it a mini bag?
There is no official cut-off. In practice, brands call a bag "mini" when it is about 20 centimetres wide or less and your phone only just fits. Anything up to around 25 centimetres wide is usually just called a small bag. The difference looks minor, but a few extra centimetres of width and depth decide whether your purse comes along or you have to choose.
More important than the label is how you use the bag. A mini bag is for an evening out, a café or a museum. A small bag also has to cope with an ordinary day in town.
What fits in a small bag?
Below are the things most people carry, with their usual size. Useful to hold up against a bag's dimensions before you buy.
| Item | Usual size | In a small bag? |
|---|---|---|
| Smartphone | roughly 14 to 16.5 cm tall | yes |
| Keys | varies | yes, but keep them away from your screen |
| Card holder | 7 to 10 cm | yes, easily |
| Compact purse | around 10 x 12 cm | yes |
| Large purse | around 18 x 10 cm | tight in the smallest models |
| Lipstick, earbuds | small | yes |
| Sunglasses in a hard case | around 16 cm long | fits, but takes up a lot of room |
| A5 diary | 14.8 x 21 cm | no |
| Water bottle | from about 20 cm tall | no |
| Folding umbrella | usually 20 cm or longer | no |
The A5 diary is the one that catches people out. On paper a bag 24 centimetres wide looks roomy enough for 21 centimetres, but a diary is stiff and a few centimetres thick. Then the bag is full with that one thing alone.
Outside size is not inside size
Dimensions in an online shop are nearly always outside measurements. Seams, lining and the thickness of the leather take one to two centimetres off in every direction. With a large bag you will not notice. With a small bag it is the difference between "fits" and "just does not fit".
The measurement people skip most often is depth. A bag 6 centimetres deep is flat and neat, and your phone, keys and card holder lie side by side. At 9 centimetres you can stack things, and suddenly a small purse and sunglasses fit as well. How to read dimensions and translate them into what a bag holds is covered in detail in our piece on bag sizes and litres.
Three small bags side by side
To make it concrete, three small shoulder bags from our collection. They are roughly the same size, yet they behave very differently.
| Model | Outside size (W x H x D) | What stands out |
|---|---|---|
| Niba | 20 x 20 x 6 cm | square and flat, with an inside zip pocket |
| Maia | 24 x 15 x 7 cm | wide and low, with a short and a long strap |
| Fei | 24 x 18 x 9 cm | the deepest of the three, with a magnetic closure |
The Niba leather shoulder bag is the true minimum: phone, keys, card holder and a lipstick. A large purse 18 centimetres wide will go in, in theory, but then the bag is full. Maia is wide enough to lay your phone flat, but at 15 centimetres it is low, so whatever goes in sits in a single layer. The Fei leather shoulder bag is the roomiest thanks to its depth, and the best choice if you want to keep using a compact purse.
When a small bag does not work
Honestly, a small bag is no answer for a workday with a laptop, nor for a day out with children when you are carrying nappies, beakers and spare clothes. A long day outdoors with a water bottle falls into the same category. Then you have two options. A bigger bag, or a small bag plus a second bag for everything else.
The other route is to make your things smaller. Most people who find a small bag too tight carry a thick purse full of receipts and cards they never use. A card holder easily saves half the space. Whether that works for you depends on how often you pay in cash. Our article on card holder or wallet goes into that in more depth.
How do you wear a small bag?
A small bag is most comfortable worn crossbody, diagonally across your body. It sits at the front or on your hip, your hands are free and you can open it faster than a bag hanging behind you. With a shorter strap you can carry the same bag under your arm in the evening. More on strap length and how high a bag should hang is in our buying guide to leather crossbody bags.
One thing to avoid
A small bag that is always stuffed full. Vegetable-tanned leather moulds itself to its contents. Cram too much into a small bag every day and it bulges and keeps that shape. A bag you fill to about eighty percent stays neat and closes easily. If you find yourself pressing it down every time to get the fastening shut, that is not a sign you should carry less. It simply means the bag is too small for your day.
