Early this spring I found myself down in Milwaukee for the MMI and had the opportunity to spend some time with the boys from Breakaway Couriers and noticed that they were using some very nice mess bags and backpacks. Upon inquiry it was learned that these were made by
Shag Bags (Shaggy can only be reached via email: shagbags@gmail.com) and were made right there in Milwaukee.
The oral history of ShagBags, as told to me by Shag over drunken beers, was that he is a Milwaukee messenger and the gentleman who ran Dank! bags sold Shag his business. He taught Shaggy the ins and outs of bag construction and sold him the name. Shag carried on the Dank! name using the Dank! patterns and over time made his own improvements to the design. A few years on, the creator of Dank! decided he wanted to get back in the game, and Shag sold him back the name and struck out under his own moniker. (that little stitching on the front of the bags is meant to represent Shag's hair and goatee)
These are perhaps the nicest mess bags I've ever seen. The materials and construction are all top notch and his innovations such as the swing pocket on his backpack's are ingenious. I was super impressed, and have lusted after one ever since. Hopefully I'll have my pennies saved up soon for a nice backpack.
If you're looking for a new bag, you can't go wrong with this midwest goodness. They aren't cheap, but the finer things in life never are.
If you want more info,
Ben's Cycle as recently wrote up the Shag Bag and as you can tell by the above images our homies at
Urban Velo also did a nice write up a while ago.
