These Bags Are Holding My Life Together at Home and On the Road
I am inveterate overpacker. No matter how well-edited I believe my stash of stuff for a weekend away is, it inevitably turns out to be between 30 and 50 percent too much. Besides, it's rarely all that well-edited in the first place. I have a bad habit of throwing one to three impulse items into my bag right before departure. It is far from becoming a Big Life Problem, but it's a bit of a hassle nonetheless.
I also have a lot of stuff. That's what comes from throwing a toddler (and all his stuff) into a Brooklyn apartment already stuffed with overcoats and knitwear and sneakers and jeans, the collections of each of which I just swear I'm going to properly thin down one day. These are my issues; yours may be entirely different. But after a year-plus stuck inside and shopping online, there's a decent chance you, too, are in need of some extra storage. Or maybe you just need a thoroughly trusty travel bag. Maybe both. Thankfully, Bennett Winch's Cargo Range of extra-tough, extra-large bags is out there. And it's proven invaluable in keeping all my stuff in (relative) order at home and on the road.
Pick your poison.
The Cargo Range is actually just a nicely utilitarian-sounding name for a lineup of three similar, high-capacity, zip-top hold-alls. There's a small, medium, and large size, but considering the "small" is already bigger than your average weekender, you could probably get away with calling them large, extra-large, and extra-extra-large. These aren't bags built for dashing through a terminal on your way to a plane across the ocean. These are meant for road trips, be they short excursions or long-hauls, with anything from hiking and camping gear inside of them to a grip of kids' toys and other general parental ephemera.
Fill 'er up.
They're handmade in England from waterproof nylon, and finished with military-grade webbing, leather trim, and solid brass hardware. That means that each of the Cargo bags, even the largest one, is surprisingly light when empty. That's handy, because with the kind of carrying capacity these things have, you don't want any extra weight in addition to whatever's stored inside. And man, can you store a lot inside.
Hey, good lookin'.
Bennett Winch's cargo bags land on the "investment-level" side of the price spectrum, but considering all that goes into them—those premium materials, the made-in-England pedigree—that's to be expected. And then there's how damn good these bags look. You could certainly find big, cheap bags that can store the same amount out there somewhere. They wouldn't be as well made, and they wouldn't last as long, but you could probably find them. That said, there is absolutely no way they'd look as good. The Cargo bags, though made with function front and center, don't skimp on form. They represent a sleek, streamlined version of the timeless aesthetic that Bennett Winch has cultivated in the rest of its high-end luggage offering. That's good news if you plan on leaving them somewhere visible whether on a trip or at home. And if you don't? They all fold down flat, so you can tuck them away and out of sight—if you can stand saying goodbye, that is.
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