I see the West Village [NYC neighborhood map] Crumpler* store all the time when I walk to Magnolia (really GROSS!) or Kobma, but I have never actually stepped into the place until today. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about Crumpler because my brother and his girlfriend got Crumpler bags by buying a lot of beer and trading it in (this was the Beer For Bags special). Good way to get a party started I guess, but also a good way to get some good publicity (especially since idiotards think beer, and anything associated with it is so cool).
So I finally went into the Crumpler store. I checked out their full line of bags and accessories and proved to myself what I had always thought about Crumpler bags in comparison to Timbuk2 bags–they aren’t as heavy-duty or rugged. I guess it’s ok though for some, but for me, I do tend to really break my Timbuk2 bags in and I need something that’ll feel like it will last some pretty hardcore biking and wear and tear, and Crumpler bags feel too much like regular backpacks to make me feel 100% confident in them. But overall, the Crumpler line of bags (except for the messenger bag) do look better than Timbuk2 bags (eg: backpack, pouches, accessories, etc).
But one thing that I absolutely loved about the store and their bags was that you could customize them with your own graphic/drawing. It’s somewhat like a more advanced version of those personalized hats you can buy at Lids or something. You can submit a digital file or a drawing and they will scan it for you and then stitch that pattern or image straight onto the bag. The uber-customized bags can be bought at a premium price of anywhere between $120-$145 (or more, depending on the extent of your graphic).
But dude, that was just so cool to me, seeing the bags being made there with people’s submitted designs. Heck, it made me think that Timbuk2’s customization was old fashioned! If you walk into the store, they have a small catalogue of pictures of people’s personal designs and they are quite awesome to look at.
I’d have to really consider what I would want stitched onto my bag (it’s like a tattoo!), but believe me, when I do think of something nice, I’ll be putting down a good amount of money to get one of these bags made. Maybe a wraparound “doobybrain.com” text for fun’s sake–but that would surely be an expensive thing to get for fun’s sake, so probably not that.
Turnaround time for one customized bag is about a week, so if you want a super super super nice present, think at least a week ahead! :)
*Their website sucks. Sure, it’s fun to look at, but I can’t stand navigating through it and browsing through it for more than a couple of minutes before I go crazy. Flash is just horrible for a site like this.
