Wall Street’s ubiquitous vests can elicit scoffs from those outside the finance world. But there’s one fashion accessory that divides opinions even within the industry: Banker bags.
They’re standard, cylindrical gym duffels that are customized with a firm’s branding. Banks give them out to their employees when they first start. What’s there to dislike?
A lot of it boils down to rank. More tenured bankers stick their noses up at the bags because they’ve become the unofficial signifier that one is an early-career analyst who hasn’t earned their stripes, yet is eager to show off where they work.
“If you’re fresh out of college and it’s like your first finance job, that’s fine. But if you’re over the age of 25 and you’re still rocking that thing, I don’t know,” one New York City influencer said in a video last year. “I think people think they’re a status symbol, but they’re just giving cringe.”
Or, as one of my banker friends put it: “They’re more akin to a five-year-old getting a cap when he joins his first tee-ball team than a high school senior getting a letterman jacket.”
Underneath all of the teasing, however, seems to be an appreciation for the Wall Street staple. Finance meme account Litquidity sells its own branded version of the bag. There’s also a cottage industry on eBay of people selling the bags secondhand.
William Edwards/Business Insider
Lisa McCullagh, the founder of bagmaker Scarborough and Tweed, whose first financial clients were JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, told Business Insider that all of the conversation around the bags is flattering, even if sometimes takes a razzing tone.
“They poke fun at themselves, but they do love it,” McCullagh, who gets orders for thousands of bags a year, said. “It’s like this little rite of passage into the community.”
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After all, the bags are quite useful for people who often find themselves working long hours at the office. One banker told me that you typically put gym clothes into them, as well as a change of clothes for the evening hours when you want to wear a more comfortable outfit. Plus, they don’t wrinkle your clothes like putting them in a backpack would.
So, what do you guys think? I, for one, think they look pretty cool. I mean, the classic color schemes, the step-and-repeat branding on the handles — they’re timeless.
Joe, can we get some custom-made First Trade bags?
