Amazing! I used to have a 4 liter crossbody purse and a 26 liter backpack. I wanted to find a daily bag that was between these two sizes and could fit all of my essentials, and I can confidently say that the small Bergen has replaced both my purse and my backpack — I donated both my old bags, so someone else may find the joy of using them. So in a sense, the minimalist Scandinavian design extends far beyond just the fine stitches of this backpack!
I’m a stickler for details. To give a better idea of the capacity of this small Bergen, I will list the items I managed to comfortably fit inside, with much emphasis on “comfortably”. I walk around a whole lot doing errands and what have you, so everything has to be readily reachable while I’m standing up. Can’t be sitting down in the middle of the street rummaging around my bag, now; the two handles on top are especially helpful for leverage while you pull things out.
In the main compartment I have:
- 20 oz water bottle
- rolled large cotton canvas grocery tote
- three reusable mesh produce bags
- standard automatic umbrella
In all other pockets, I have:
- 1 oz bottle of hand sanitizer
- lip balm
- pepper spray and keys
- package of pocket tissues
- pack of gum
- several sanitary face masks, folded
- an 11 inch tablet and accompanying stylus, though it can fit larger
- a standard sized composition notebook or spiral bound notebook (A4 size)
- cellphone
- zip wallet
- sunglasses in a case
- hair ties
- several bandaids
- a set of compostable silverware
- pair of earphones
- small ziplock of micellar wipes
- travel sized sunscreen
…and I think that’s about it! My bag has literally everything I would need at any time, yet I still have a bit more space to store things. I can also see myself using this bag many, many years down the road because of Kapten and Son’s attention to detail; every fabric edge is protected with piping, and the material is extremely durable and thick — it holds up its aesthetically pleasing shape and never sags like a sad balloon.
There’s not a single product on earth that doesn’t have its design flaws, however. This small Bergen does have a tendency to slip at the straps through the buckles, so it was hard for me to maintain the same strap length throughout the day. However, this was easily fixable — I measured my ideal strap length and simply sewn the straps in place with several imperceptible stitches. Hopefully this design issue gets fixed soon; the utility far outweighs this problem for me, though.
Also, this backpack is just as stated. It’s small, so it can’t hold folders, school textbooks, or what have you. However, the regular sized Bergen that’s 2 liters larger than this one would fit the bill and still offer the same utility. I would say this bag is like a purse, except much more functional.
