Messenger Bags
Tracking the rise of that ubiquitous urban accessory.
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1860
Pony Express riders use mochilas, leather sacks slung over their saddles, to deliver the mail
1880s
Bindle sticks, the classic hoe-and-bandanna carryalls, become popular with unemployed Civil War veterans who’ve taken to the rails in search of work
1947
Tent manufacturer De Martini Globe Canvas Co. makes shoulder bags for telephone workers
1983
East Village resident John Peters founds Manhattan Portage, the granddaddy of messenger-bag companies
1989
Timbuk2 releases its three-panel courier bag
1995
Capitalizing on the all-things-X marketing zeitgeist, PAC Designs invents the X-strap to stabilize large loads
2009
The messenger bag goes high-tech with Arc’teryx’s Mistral, an ergonomically designed bag with a new rolltop closure