School is soon back again and with that comes the search for the perfect school backpack. What should be an easy choice always presents a few tricky problems. And let’s just be honest, 2020 hasn’t made things easy. Our daily life has drastically changed. We now carry items we didn’t use to on a frequency we didn’t use to. Add this to the tough conditions a school backpack is exposed to on a daily basis, and the many uses young people make of their backpack. It should be clear why choosing the right backpack for school needs some careful consideration.
Here is the step-by-step guide that will help you how to choose a backpack for school. We have written it by putting the most important features on top. Therefore, health and utility questions are on top, style, and the extras are listed further below. Let’s get started!
1. The impact on your health:
Backpacks have a deep and direct impact on your spine, shoulders, and body posture. The wrong backpack will mess all up, and that truly is a problem. Without going into details, your spine is one of the most important parts of your body, and you really, REALLY don’t want to mess with it.
1.1 For your Spine:
Get a backpack with a padded back. This is not only good for your spine, but it is also a security measure for the items you carry. And your spine is protected from pumps and hits from the items you are carrying. Furthermore, the padded structure gives your backpack rigidity, which has a great impact on the weight from distribution. More about that in point 7.
1.2 For your Shoulders:
Choose wide shoulder straps to evenly distribute weight on your shoulders. Cheap backpacks usually have very thin, unpadded shoulder straps. That is bad! In this case, only a tiny part of your shoulders will need to carry all the weight of the backpack. It is very likely that your shoulders will hurt from that. Instead, a large and padded shoulder strap alleviates the weight considerably.
To visualize this problem, take your phone. If it falls flat on the floor, you pick it up without a scratch again. But if it falls on the edge or angle, you have a destroyed screen. The force is the same, but its distribution is different. So, get wide shoulder straps. If they are padded they will even be more comfortable.
1.3 For your Posture:
Backpacks influence the way you walk and stand. Get something that pulls your shoulder slightly and pleasantly back. That is a healthy and charming position for both men and women. An easy way to do this is by holding the shoulder straps lengths not too loose.
2. Adjustable Shoulder Straps
You will grow, you will carry different things in your backpack, someone else will carry it…and all this requires adjustable shoulder straps. So, there is just no reason not to have adjustable shoulder straps. Make sure to buy a good quality backpack that holds firmly the length you regulate. Cheap backpacks often fail in this. They will slip, changing length by themselves as soon as there is some weight in your backpack. An annoying and unhealthy side effect. A great backpack will “memorize” your length. Meaning that the strap will have a little curve if you hold the same length for a longer time. So you can change the length and easily find back to the usual one you like so much.
3. Get a school backpack for the of the 21st century – Internal Organization
School isn’t only about books anymore. Many institutes have adopted tablets, laptops, and other smart items in the classroom. Ask yourself what you need to carry on a daily basis and buy accordingly. This might sound obvious, but if you are buying a backpack for your kid, make sure to have a talk with him/her about his necessities.
In any case, you want a swiss school bag that keeps your items safe and in order. The internal organization of the backpack will be key to this.
4. Price
Price is a determining factor for any purchase. And we have put it on top of our list of “ask yourself these questions before buying a new backpack”. But when you are choosing the right backpack for school, we recommend you to pay attention to other things first. Your child’s health is at stake, and that is much, much more valuable than 30$ saved.
Take this rule of thumb to have a general idea about backpack pricing:
– Backpacks that cost less than 20$ will probably break within a year
– Backpacks within 20$-40$ have an average life span of 2-4 years
– Backpacks between 40$-100$ have a lifespan of up to 10 years in good conditions
– Backpacks over 100$ are top-notch quality, often highly specialized in a field, such as hiking, military, or wildlife excursions. They should outlive you.
5. Resistance
A school is a place of study and fun. Students have other things in mind than keeping their backpack clean and tidy. So, make sure that your school backpack is of resistant fabric. Here are the advantages of different materials as resumed by Wikihow:
- Synthetic fabrics will last longest, but leather ages with more character.
- Synthetic fabrics are lighter-weight than leather. If you choose a leather bag it will be much heavier even before you begin to load it.
- Synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon are more water-resistant than natural fibers like cotton.
- Natural fibers like hemp are more environmentally sustainable than synthetics. If you care about having an eco-friendly bag choose a natural fiber.
6. Style and trends
While we have put this point quite low in our list, you or your child may think differently. And that’s alright. A backpack is a significant part of our life and covers a large part of our body. It is natural to consider its style. We just recommend considering other features first.
And please note that slingbacks and one shoulder straps are cool, but should not be heavily loaded. As a school backpack (which often gets heavy) they are not the best choice for your spine.
7. Choose a backpack with multiple compartments
With multiple compartments come multiple possibilities. School isn’t the same every day or semester. Having a backpack that is divided in different parts is simply a bonus.
Are you carrying books and sport clothes? No problem with multiple compartments. Your shoes and sweaty clothes won’t affect your precious books. Do you have plans after school and need to carry something special to school? It’s easy if you have multiple compartments! One part of the backpack can be used for school, the other half for what comes later.
Finally, multiple compartments and internal pockets make it easier to distribute the weight evenly in the backpack, and thus on your shoulders. Remember to keep the heavy items as close to your bag as possible, for the simple principle of levers.
Conclusion
Ruigor’s backpacks are made for daily busy life. They perfectly match the needs of school children, university students, and office workers. The multiple options make it extremely easy to use them on different occasions, might it be work or leisure. The internal colors also prevent losing items in the backpack!
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