Think about what you carry to work. Between your laptop case, gym bag and lunch bag, it can sometimes feel like you’re more of a pack mule than a working professional rushing into office. Or worse, you could be rocking a monstrosity of a backpack that makes you look like you’re ready for your first day of freshman year.
Victoria Franziska Hall was sick of strapping multiple bags to herself and awaiting the inevitable accidents every day. So Hall designed a line of fashionable, compartmentalized bags. The line, called WorkinGurl, is now available through Kickstarter and aims to make the chaotic lives of commuting women a whole lot easier - and stylish.
“We spend a lot of money on bags, but they don’t really suit our lives,” Hall explained. “They don’t help us in any way. They just look nice.”
But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore, as Hall hopes WorkinGurl’s all-inclusive totes will become the solution. She said she wants to offer "bags that support the reality of our lives... We play a lot of roles. When you’re a professional, a runner and a mom, you’re doing all of things on the go, not at home. Handbags should be there to help.”
Hall comes from a creative background, having worked for arts nonprofits her entire career and earning a master’s degree in arts administration. She always knew she wanted to create something of her own, but it took a miserable, bag-clad commute from the South Shore to Cambridge to kick her entrepreneurial spirit into action.
“I had to start taking the T every day,” Hall told us. “I was driving to the Quincy Adams Red Line stop, taking that into Park Street and switching to the Green Line to get to the part of Cambridge I needed to be in. It was a long, crazy commute and, once I turned 30, I decided to commit to working out and cram workouts into my workdays… When I was carrying my everyday essentials, I ended up carrying two to three bags at a time. It was so frustrating.”
The founder’s frustration reached its peak one day when she was on her way home. Having earlier spilled the contents of her travel mug inside her tote and wrestling with her slipping gym bag, she knew she had to create a better way. After pinning down the most useful features within any given bag - as well as the ones she often desired - Hall hired a design consultant to help her mock up her line of WorkinGurl bags and find a manufacturer.
Here’s what you’ll find in WorkinGurl’s bags:
- Two bottle holders, one on each side for your water and your travel mugs.
- A padded laptop and tablet compartment. Because technology.
- A drop bottom with mesh on the sides, so you can let your dirty gym clothes or sneakers air out.
- An interior wide and deep enough to hold your lunch.
- A cell phone pocket for when it’s not glued to your hand.
- A waterproof lining and exterior for easy cleaning after spills. Or New England weather.
- A key fob with a clip so you don’t lose your keys.
- Pen holders to prevent pens from exploding at the bottom of your bag.
- Zippered and non-zippered internal pockets for storing everything from makeup to your T pass.
“We naturally carry more things than men, that’s just how it is,” Hall said of her design choices. “My bags are functional, but also fashionable. Lots of women out there are carrying backpacks. I see it all the time. They’re usually more seasoned in their careers than me and they’re carrying a backpack like an eighth grader. They probably don’t want to carry that, but they have no other choice.”
Through Kickstarter, $145 will get you a WorkinGurl crossbody, while $175 will land you a tote. With the $18,500, Hall intends to keep innovating, eventually offering additional colors and expanding it to include other accessories in which her customers would find value. She plans to focus on building the WorkinGurl brand and its e-commerce site. However, Hall will also explore brick and mortar distributors, placing her bags in select boutiques throughout Massachusetts before contemplating major wholesale deals with retail partners.
