SINGAPORE – I was at the Esplanade one weekend when a guy approached me and asked me where I bought my tote bag.
It was a tote bag from the musical Next To Normal, a contemporary rock show that played for only three months on London’s West End in 2024.
This somewhat niche tote bag was instantly recognised by a fellow musical theatre nerd because it carried the title of a song from the musical: Superboy And The Invisible Girl. We ended up chatting and exchanging more theatre tidbits.
Do tote bags carry more significance now as a new social and cultural symbol than branded bags, which were signifiers of wealth?
Buying a branded bag with your first pay cheque used to be a rite of passage, a sign of financial independence and of finally earning your own money.
But now, tote bags seem to be the new “in thing”. In February, my colleague wrote about the now-iconic cream and navy Trader Joe’s tote bag from the American grocery chain, which has become a desired product for a wide variety of people from students to office workers.
Last December, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung posted on Instagram about popping into Daunt Books in London and leaving with the bookshop’s tote bag.
The dark green Daunt Books tote, featuring an illustration of the famous shop, is a highly sought-after bag that has been seen on the arms of celebrities like Elizabeth Olsen and Keira Knightley.
A Telegraph article in 2024 called it a “ubiquitous class marker for the literati”.
But this is not an original trend. Back in 2017, there was much buzz over the tote bag that The New Yorker magazine gave to new subscribers.
An article by MarketWatch then called it “a bigger status symbol than a $10,000 Hermes handbag”.
Instead of a sign of wealth or luxury like the branded handbag, the free New Yorker tote bag became a symbol of a different sort of “cultural currency”, the article added. It signified the wearer’s awareness, taste and refinement.
In the same way, the Trader Joe’s tote bag also signifies something different from expensive Kate Spade or Gucci handbags.
The simple supermarket tote instead shows that one is well travelled, among other qualities, ideas that the typical branded bag does not convey.
UOB card data shows that young card holders aged 20 to 40 showed “a marked shift in preference away from luxury brands”, compared with older customers, said the bank’s head of group personal financial services Jacquelyn Tan.
In 2023, this age group accounted for 43 per cent of spending across 16 luxury brands. But this percentage dropped to 39 per cent in 2025.
Like many others, I did not start using tote bags with the idea of becoming “part of this cultural literati” or to be seen as sophisticated.
It began with the search for something practical when I was studying abroad in 2022, as I realised that supermarkets overseas did not provide plastic bags, and I needed a good, sturdy carry-all bag for groceries.
After having to carry my bread and eggs in my arms down a few busy streets, I decided a good tote bag from a bookshop (I also do like books) would solve the problem.
The tote bag is also versatile. It can carry anything from eggs to cardigans to a decent-size laptop. For a disorganised person like me, it also helped to have everything in one compartment, rather than having to root around different pockets for various small items.
Before long, I started to notice more people carrying the same Daunt Books tote bag. Some even approached me to ask where it was from, especially when I returned to Singapore.
I was in a mall in Singapore carrying the tote bag when a woman I did not know told me, with the conspiratorial air of sharing a communal secret, that she has one of these bags too.
On the surface, a flimsy tote bag worth less than $20 does not have the same aura as a branded leather handbag with its hefty price tag.
Yet the humble tote bag – not to be confused with Marc Jacobs’ line of branded tote bags called The Tote Bag – is having its time in the limelight.
To me, this mirrors a shift in a collective psyche that values experiences more than wealth, and that sees the status symbols of being well travelled, well read and well informed as more important than simply being rich.
In a generation that prioritises travelling and accumulating unusual experiences, the shift to the humble, affordable tote bag highlights that going to far-flung places and discovering hidden gems is what truly makes for a rich life.
Moreover, in a world where we are bombarded by advertisements and told what’s fashionable and what’s not, the tote bag becomes a medium of personal expression.
It conveys your favourite bookstore, a well-loved show, perhaps even a preferred travel destination.
In fact, tote bags have always been a way of expressing opinions. In the 1960s in the US, activists involved in countercultural movements carried tote bags with slogans and symbols, and the bags were used to carry protest signs and political materials.
Ironically, the desire to now get the same popular tote bag as everyone else dilutes that very individuality that the tote bag is meant to tout.
On the other hand, I realised that tote bags can also be used to engender a curious sense of community.
When I was approached because of my Next To Normal tote bag, it made me happy that someone else on this side of the world loves the same musical that I do. It was a way to form an instant connection, in an increasingly disconnected, digitalised world.
We struck up a conversation about theatre cultures and what’s playing on Singapore stages, and left each other with a promise to see each other again at the next play or musical.
It is just a cheap, tatty tote bag, but it made me a new friend.
So, more than a status symbol, I will proudly carry my tote bags around so the next time I encounter someone who gets the same references as I do, we can geek out together, and form new connections.
Source : https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/young-and-savvy-branded-bags-out-tote-bags-in
