Indian men are increasingly embracing bags as both practical essentials and style statements, moving beyond backpacks to totes, crossbody bags and duffles. Influenced by global celebrities and gender-fluid fashion, they’re turning to homegrown labels like The Misnomer, Nappa Dori, Cord Studio, Dhruv Kapoor and Chamar Studio, which offer distinctive, sustainable and design-forward options worth serious attention.
You never realise just how much you need a bag till you (maybe reluctantly) start carrying one everywhere. Suddenly, your pockets are not fighting for survival anymore. Your sunglasses are not scratched up against your keys, your charger is not hanging out of your jeans (like, why even?), and you finally understand the appeal of being able to carry your entire day around without looking like you are smuggling hardware in your trousers. Beyond the practicality, bags have quietly become one of the easiest ways for men to add personality to what they wear, especially at a time when menswear has become increasingly experimental with silhouettes, jewellery and accessories..
A large part of that shift can be credited to celebrities like Jacob Elordi and A$AP Rocky, who have normalised men carrying everything from oversized totes to structured handbags, often straight from womenswear collections. The old idea that bags are somehow “unmanly” has started looking dated, especially when luxury fashion itself no longer designs accessories around rigid gender lines. In India too, men carrying bags beyond the standard backpack or laptop sling is becoming far more common, whether it is roomy totes, crossbody bags or duffles styled as part of an outfit rather than an afterthought.
And while the conversation usually circles around big luxury names, there is an entire crop of Indian brands making bags that deserve just as much attention. These are the labels worth checking out.
If I say that The Misnomer makes their bags (and by extension all their products) the dry irony and sustainable practices, you'll probably chuckle wryly at the marketing of it all, till you surprise yourself with their bags and marvel at the gender-neutral designing and craftsmanship that the brand has to offer.
Our Choice: Not A Camera, a handmade 2-in-1 crossbody bag in chocolate brown with cotton lining and carabiner detailing holding an adjustable handle, so that you can change it as per your needs.
₹6,999
If there's an occasion, there's a Nappa Dori bag for it. Their collection is so vast that you feel like there's no dearth of choices when you're looking for a bag (their dedicated menswear section is just as stocked, by the way).
Our Choice: The hitchhiker bag in navy blue canvas, perfect for your weekend getaways and road trips.
₹14,500
Cord Studio is for the artsy men who don't let trends or convention decide how they should dress. The brand's plays with colours like they're straight out a Wes Anderson movie (minus the symmetry), while being loud and proud about their Indian heritage. If Desi prep was a thing, it would be Cord Studio.
Our Choice: The Highland Tote in Homealone, featuring an impressionist painting of a cozy homebody reading on a rug, as their black cat plays with a stole on a table.
₹13,800
Pick up any of his designs, and you'd see why Dhruv Kapoor is a household name amongst fashion enthusiasts at this point. We could never tire of the ease with which he subverts expectations around the products that he designs. Mary Janes with metal studs? Check.
Our Choice: The Hand-crocheted maxi belt tote that uses the very sunshine-and-rainbows art of crocheting to make the edgiest tote bag you know.
₹85,000
Chamar Studio founder Sudheer Rajbhar is an activist, entrepreneur and master designer all rolled into one. His debut collection with the brand saw him making bags out of recycled tires, and with each collection, the brand's expands the limits of what sustainable production in fashion can look like.
Our Choice: The Batwa in red with peach topstitch at the hems, made entirely of recycled tires and natural rubber.
₹6,500