Trying to cram everything you need over the course of a day - laptop, lunch and gym clothes, for instance - into a single backpack is like a daily wrestling match. And most times, your bag wins.
Modular backpacks aren’t entirely new. But they’re so expensive that most people opt to sport the pack-mule look and carry multiple bags than to splurge on one of these pricey items.
A team of Northeastern students, though, is working on Bloom Backpacks - a line of modular backpacks made for hectic lifestyles without the steep sticker price. Having recently taken first place at the Husky Startup Challenge, the venture is already looking good in its effort to develop the best, affordable modular backpack yet.
I caught up with the Bloom Backpacks team, and their story is so startup - complete with pivots and a founding team that experienced some snowballing.
“It evolved from an original idea, which came to me the first week of school,” explained Andrew Colabella, one of the founders. “I was caught in the rain and wondered if I could make a backpack that had an umbrella attached to it, so I could stay dry hands-free.”
“After that first idea, I decided I wanted to make the perfect backpack instead,” he continued. “But everyone has a different kind of lifestyle so everyone has a different image of what the perfect backpack would be for them.”
Suddenly, backpacks became a regular topic of discussion between Colabella and his roommate Julian Costas. They’d be hanging out in their dorm room as most college kids do - only they’d talk about the best backpack design. In the end, they figured out how they could satisfy all backpack-wearers’ needs: Making it modular.
These two, as well as their friend Matt Dowling, took their thoroughly discussed, dynamic backpack idea to the Husky Startup Challenge. At the beginning of this startup bootcamp, the guys were approached by Amaury Lejay, who loved their idea so much that he wanted in. He brought on his friend Romain Jacques, and they became the business brains on the team, while Colabella and Costas handled the engineering.
At demo day of the challenge, Bloom Backpacks was deemed the winner. But the founders have a lot of work ahead of them. With the prize money, they’ll continue prototyping. Although they have much to figure out, including materials, they have a pretty good idea of the kinds of pockets they’ll be offering people.
Jacques explained that there will be a basic backpack bundle that people will be able to purchase. In addition to these basic pockets, Bloom Backpacks will give customers the option to add on more specific pouches to suit their individual needs. So you could have internal pockets where you can safely place papers and your laptop, a large bottom pouch to isolate your dirty workout clothes or sneakers, as well as side compartments for your lunch or water bottle.
These are just some of the options going through Bloom Backpacks' heads at the moment, but they’re taking extra care to brainstorm, test and gather feedback about people’s pocket preferences.
“Initially, we were thinking of making them for college kids, but we realized the money would be an issue,” said Lejay. “They typically reach for the cheapest backpack possible. So instead we have young, urban working professionals and their needs in mind as we design.”
“Competitors are priced around $300 to $400,” he continued. “We don’t have a definite price yet, but it will be more affordable than that. We’re not targeting only people who live on Newbury Street.”
While Bloom Backpacks may be slightly more expensive than bargain backpacks that college students may gravitate toward, its backpack options will still make economic sense. When you account for the cost of the multiple bags you may currently use - a briefcase, gym bag, purse, wallet, reusable grocery totes - it really starts to add up. The hodgepodge of bags probably ends up costing you more money than one dynamic bag that you could use for everything in the long run.
“We’re designing one bag that can change and adapt to your life,” Costas summed it all up.
Image via Andrew Colabella.
