The search for the perfect work bag can start and end with this tote
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Dagne Dover hasn't been in the bag-making business for very long — only since 2012, actually — but it's already made a lasting impact on the lives of countless working women who've come to rely on the company's ingeniously designed totes for their ample storage space and designated compartments for all the essentials.
I, for one, am a big fan of the company and carry my Dagne Dover Allyn Tote five out of seven days of the week. It's the epitome of the perfect work bag, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. The tote is currently sold out in two colors (warm dust leather and slate leather), and the other colors are presumably low in stock, too.
The Allyn Tote that Dagne Dover sent me to review is brand new for fall 2017, and it's already one of the company's best-sellers. It comes in five gorgeous colors (slate leather, onyx leather, oxblood leather, bone leather, and warm dust leather) and provides you with all the pockets you could ever need — and then some.
Some quick facts:
What it is: Dagne Dover's Allyn Tote is a sophisticated and spacious work bag with a padded laptop sleeve, water bottle holder, and other thoughtful interior pockets that keep you organized and always ready to go.
Things it's good at: It keeps all of your essentials in order and easy to get to, and its gorgeous pebbled leather design is perfectly suited to the office.
Concerns: It's expensive. The Allyn Tote costs $345, or $395 if you opt for the warm dust color.
Bonus fact: Depending on your needs for the day, you can make the tote up to 5 3/4" longer by unsnapping the bag's adjustable interior fastener, instantly creating a lot of extra room.
Earlier this year, Dagne Dover's founder and CEO Melissa Mash told Business Insider that, "It’s no longer good enough to just be 'arm candy.' Nowadays we expect the services and products we use to multitask, to be data-driven, and to work harder." The Allyn Tote, heeding Mash's formula, is polished for the office, convenient for carrying everything you need on the commute there and back home, and easy to keep organized.
Dagne Dover really considered every detail from the working woman's perspective when they designed the Allyn Tote, from the detachable key leash that makes her house keys easier to find and grab in a pinch to padded laptop compartment with a zipper closure that ensures her valuable tech is always protected.
The bag also has a discreet pocket on the back of it where she can stow her keys or phone so that they're readily accessible, a magnetic tab closure and an interior adjustable snap fastener that give her more space when she needs it or to close it quickly, a shoe duster she can use to stow her comfortable flats so that they don't make contact with her other essentials, and dedicated pockets for her phone, pens, lipstick, Metro Card, and whatever else.
I thought Dagne Dover had perfected the work bag with its Classic Tote ($245), which I reviewed back in March 2017, but unwilling to rest on its laurels, the company has generously graced the world with the Allyn Tote. The tote is $100 more than the Classic Tote, but that extra $100 gets you a bunch of new useful features and adds even more style and convenience to your day.
Better yet, if you're a teacher or member of the military, you're eligible for a 20% discount on any Dagne Dover purchases you make. Just fill out this form using your official education or military email address and the company will give you an exclusive code to use at checkout.
My personal opinion is that work bags don't get any better than this one, so do yourself a huge favor and buy the Dagne Dover Allyn Tote.
Here's a look at the Allyn Tote in Warm Dust Leather. This color is currently sold out on the Dagne Dover site.
Dagne Dover
The Warm Dust Leather version of the tote costs $395 and comes with handcrafted whip-stitch seams. The tote comes in four other colors — Slate Leather, Onyx Leather, Bone Leather, and Oxblood Leather — that cost $345 each.
Dagne Dover
There's a discreet pocket on the back of the bag where you can stow your keys or phone so that they're accessible in a pinch.
Dagne Dover
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