wear from bag strap?

[alchimiste]

I carry my laptop bag on the shoulder. I have noticed some wear on some rather new shirts at the shoulder and wondered if it may be due to the strap. Anybody experienced the same problem?

Mathieu

 

[philosophe]

Yes. Shoulder straps are hell on clothes.

 

[Kent Wang]

I wear a messenger bag across my shoulder, but I've started to dislike doing so. I don't mind with polos, but dress shirts deserve a bit more care. I haven't noticed much wear yet, but at the least I am unhappy with bunching up the fabric so that it forms wrinkles. I recommend doing without the shoulder strap. If your bag really is so heavy perhaps you should just get a rollling suitcase. In fact, I would consider ditching laptop bags altogether as they are, for the most part, hideous. But more power to you if you actually have a good looking one.

Your post reminds me of seeing the foolish business school undergrads walking around campus wearing 20+ lb backpacks over their suits on the days that they have job interviews. These are usually the same chumps that button the bottom button on their suits and wear black shoes with navy. Being the fashion police is fun.

 

[Phil]

You should never, under any circumstances, sling a strap over your shoulder while wearing a suit, or a soft sweater, that can be damaged. First of all, it looks terrible, because it pulls the cloth of the suit in all sorts of weird directions and makes the suit look unflattering. Secondly, that strap will destroy cloths after some time. Im sure that laptop bag has a smaller loop to carry it with, like a briefcase. My advice - use it.

 

[Luc-Emmanuel]

As stated, never under any circumstances use the strap. In fact, I sometime use it, but always when I'm standing still waiting for the train or the metro. Walking motion will rub it on the shoulder and wear the clothes off.

.luc

 

[LA Guy]

If you are wearing a messenger bag, why the heck are you wearing a dress shirt or suit anyway? On casual jackets, no big deal - the more worn in the jacket, the better it usually looks in most cases. And the strap does nothing to tee shirts and twill shirts that multiple washings won't do worse to anyway. My solution is to never wear suits except to interviews (in which case I use a briefcase or carry a leather portfolio) or to weddings and funerals, both events to which bringing supplementary reading material are considered bad form.

Wierd academic tradition: the lower the position you are seeking, the better dressed you need be for the interview, excluding administrative posts. If you are interviewing to become the chair of a department, for example, you could wear Eccos, chinos, and a "dress shirt". Maybe a jacket, if you are feeling especially formal. If you are applying for an assistant professorship, most likely you're going to be dressed like a I-banker.

 

[Kent Wang]

If you are wearing a messenger bag, why the heck are you wearing a dress shirt or suit anyway?

I never wear a messenger bag with a suit, but certainly this look is not quite so shocking with just a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, possibly untucked?

 

[LA Guy]

Quote:

(LA Guy @ May 23 2005,07:20) If you are wearing a messenger bag, why the heck are you wearing a dress shirt or suit anyway?
I never wear a messenger bag with a suit, but certainly this look is not quite so shocking with just a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, possibly untucked?
Seems fine. My point was that a messenger is really casual. A suit, not so much. An untucked button up with the sleeves rolled up (maybe a little rumpled) says "summer vacation" and not "10 more hours in the cubicle."

 

[Kent Wang]

I'm confident that we see eye-to-eye on this. I usually match the messenger bag - casual dress shirt combination with sneakers as well. Perhaps that'll give you a better idea of how casual of a look I'm going for here.

Back to the subject: the sacrifice of bag functionality for sartorial reasons. I contend that no one should ever carry a laptop bag. Either get a briefcase or a rolling suitcase. One should consider a less gigantic laptop as well. A desktop replacement notebook is not intended to be lugged around. It's quite telling how desktop replacement / media center notebooks sell very well in the US but not overseas. Just like the SUV.

 

[alchimiste]

I contend that no one should ever carry a laptop bag. Either get a briefcase or a rolling suitcase. One should consider a less gigantic laptop as well.

1. A brief case would not make it any lighter and would therefore do nothing to the problem.
2. I wish I had a lighter laptop. However accounting people see these only as costs and try to minimize the cost without caring about anything else.

 

[weeks]

Your post reminds me of seeing the foolish business school undergrads walking around campus wearing 20+ lb backpacks over their suits on the days that they have job interviews. These are usually the same chumps that button the bottom button on their suits and wear black shoes with navy. Being the fashion police is fun.

I think that lumping those who wear black shoes with navy with with the other faux paus you listed is a bit much.

Being a conservative guy in a conservative profession, I would feel somewhat foolish wearing brown shoes with a navy suit.

 

[Kent Wang]

Is your profession Rear Admiral of the Queen's Navy? That would certainly be excusable.

OK, seriously, yes you're right. It's not nearly as atrocious as the buttoning the bottom jacket button.

Alchimiste: Yes, a briefcase will not be any lighter but it will look a few thousand times better than a laptop bag. Unless of course you have some sort of magical laptop bag that's super-fly. If that is the case, I demand pics.

 

[esvoboda]

I'm all for ditching the laptop bag too. My friends and I call them nerd packs. They're barely passable with casualwear and awful with dressy clothes.

If you like carrying a messenger bag when you're dressed casually, you can put the laptop in there. If you're worried about protection, you can use a laptop sleeve.

For business casual when wearing a sport jacket or for other businesswear, I'd say avoid strapped bags at all costs and carry the laptop in a proper leather briefcase. This can be soft-sided. It doesn't need to be an attache case. An alternative is a Zero Halliburton aluminum case that makes you look like you're carrying a nuclear device. Handcuff attachment to your wrist is optional.

I have a 2.5 pound laptop and a large screen 7 pound laptop. Even the latter isn't a big deal to carry at my side in a briefcase. If you have trouble with that and you're younger, maybe you need to think about getting in better shape.