You see them everywhere: at the bakery, on the train, over the shoulder of someone just leaving a museum shop. But what is a tote bag, really, and why is the same kind of bag called a tote in one shop and a shopper in the next?
The short answer: a tote bag is an open, rectangular bag with two parallel handles, usually with no closure and not much inside. A shopper, as the term is used in much of Europe, is roughly the same shape but built sturdier: handles long enough for the shoulder, often a zip or zip pocket, a reinforced base and quite often a laptop compartment. A tote is a carrier, a shopper is a bag you can take to work every day.
What is a tote bag, exactly?
The word tote is American English and means to carry or lug. It was recorded as early as the late 17th century, the phrase tote bag only around 1900. The bag as we know it now, heavy canvas with two handles, is often credited to the American outfitter L.L.Bean, which launched a canvas bag in 1944 for carrying ice from the car to the icebox. Only later did it become a bag for everything.
What makes a tote a tote is mostly what it lacks. No flap, no zip across the top, few or no pockets. It is designed so you can drop something in and take it out in one movement. The handles are usually long enough to go over your shoulder, but not adjustable.
Since plastic carrier bags started costing money or disappearing from shops in much of Europe, the canvas tote has become the default shopping bag. Plenty of people now have a drawer full of them, picked up at a conference, a bookshop or a festival.
What is the difference between a tote bag and a shopper?
Honestly, the line is blurry. In British English, shopper is often just another word for tote. In many shops, though, it has become its own category, and then you see these differences:
| Tote bag | Shopper | |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Usually canvas or cotton, sometimes leather | Often leather, faux leather or sturdy fabric |
| Closure | Usually open | Often a zip, magnet or inner zip pocket |
| Shape | Soft, lies flat when empty | Firmer, holds its shape better |
| Base | Flat or no base at all | Often reinforced, stands upright |
| Inner pockets | None or one | Several, sometimes a laptop sleeve |
| Use | Groceries, beach, spare bag | Work, study, everyday bag |
Leather totes exist too. At that point you essentially have a shopper without a closure, and which name goes on it is mostly the seller's choice.
When is a canvas tote perfectly fine?
More often than you might think. For groceries, a day at the beach or as a spare bag in your suitcase, a ten euro canvas tote is exactly right. It is light, washable, and it does not matter if a carton of milk leaks in it. Buying a leather shopper for that would be a waste of good leather.
It changes once you carry a laptop in it every day. A thin canvas tote has no base, so the laptop hangs with its full weight from two narrow handles. They dig into your shoulder, and your laptop sits unprotected among your keys. At that point, a bag with a firm base and a padded compartment is not a luxury.
What to look for in a leather shopper
If you want to use a shopper as a work bag, check a few things a product photo will not show you.
- Handle length. Does it go over your shoulder with a winter coat on? Many handles are just too short.
- Closure. An open top is quick, but an inner zip pocket for your wallet and phone is worth having on public transport.
- Base. A reinforced base keeps the bag upright and stops everything sliding to the middle.
- Laptop size. Check the inside dimensions, not just the outside.
The Mira leather shopper from Beocca measures 30 by 35 cm and has an open top, an inner zip pocket, a reinforced base and room for a 15 inch laptop. That makes it a shopper in the fuller sense, not a tote. If you are torn between this shape and a more structured handbag, the trade-off is set out in leather handbag or shopper: which suits you. And if it is mainly an office bag you are after, carry on with the guide to a leather work bag for women.
A common mistake with shoppers
A shopper is so roomy that it fills itself. Laptop, charger, water bottle, lunch, a book for the train. You only notice when one shoulder aches at the end of the day. You always carry a shopper on one side, and at four or five kilos you feel it. If you carry that much every day, first read which is better for your back and neck, a backpack or a shoulder bag. Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need a shopper at all, but a backpack, plus a canvas tote for the groceries.
