[JohnBooty]

I'd love to know the relative environmental impact of buying:

1. A single high-quality $400 leather randoseru to last six years

2. A single high-quality $200-$400 ripstop nylon bag with high quality zippers, etc (essentially, GoRuck quality level) to last for life

3. Six years' worth of $50 Jansports that last maybe ~3 years each

4. Six years' worth of cheapass $15 Amazon Essentials level nylon bags that last ~1 year each under heavy daily use

[paxys]

This isn't really the math. A $50 backpack from a decent brand will easily last 5-10 years under normal use. You aren't getting anything extra in terms of durability from the $400+ worth of exotic materials and handcrafting. It's a signal of social status, like any other piece of luxury fashion, but not much more than that.

[JohnBooty]

What's "normal use"? Here was my "normal use" as a student in the 1980s and 1990s.

    - 4 or 5 large books at once, bag often fairly bulging
    - Zipped and unzipped probably > 20x daily
    - Dropped onto school, home, and schoolbus floors dozens of 
      times daily with various levels of care
    - Some walking, some weather exposure (less for me than 
      many others)
    - One strap always carrying 100% of the load because the style
      was to wear it over one shoulder; it was never acceptable
      to wear it with a strap over each shoulder as actually 
      designed

Anecdotally I didn't see a lot of $50 Jansports lasting multiple years under those conditions and even if they did they would be pretty grungy.

Now... today as a middle-aged adult? Yes, a $50 Jansport easily lasts me 10+ years, probably more like 30, basically a lifetime purchase.

Also... today as a student? I guess it's less physical books and more Chromebooks so sure yeah maybe $50 Jansports can be lifetime purchases for kids, why the hell not

[maxglute]

Maybe I'm talking out of my ass but this seems to be designed for regimented JP primary school life. Rigid central compartment for books. No need to accomodate for lunch boxes or water since you get that at school. Or you clothes/shoes for sports and after school activities.

[JohnBooty]

I think many kids carry a packed lunch (bento) but carry it separately in a box wrapped in a cloth or separate bag. I've not visited nor lived in Japan, I'm sure somebody can correct/expand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento

[peruvian]

This is BIFL culture math that doesn’t make sense IRL. Plenty of people use the same JanSport $50 backpack for a decade just fine for school.

[JohnBooty]

I know what you mean about BIFL culture. IMHO r/buyitforlife is full of people who clearly seem to be jumping through hoops in order to justify some pretty expensive and overkill purchases they've already got their heart set on.

But that is not the angle I'm thinking from.

I did not see Jansports lasting people ten years when I was in school.

If anything... there's probably some generation gap stuff going on here. $50 Jansports did not typically last people that long when I went to school. But they also made us carry way more heavy-ass books than today I think.

[jasomill]

My solution to heavy-ass books was to re-bind individual chapters in 50¢ report covers after paying a copy shop about $2/book to cut out and three-hole punch the pages, and only carry the chapters I was actively using, which easily fit in a vertical messenger bag designed for small laptops.

[JohnBooty]

That's, uh, not exactly universally applicable is it?

Or have they finally quashed the used book market entirely? Most fellow college/uni students valued getting a few bucks back for their books at the end of a semester.

Also this obviously can't work for primary school students who can't destroy their books at will.

But, good solution

[JohnBooty]

Also, more to the point: I suspect that the environmental impact of this "BIFL" leather bag absolutely dwarfs the impact of multiple nylon bags so I did not have some BIFL-y agenda... =)

[eru]

For the more expensive, higher quality items you also have to factor in the probability that your kid might lose them.

[JohnBooty]

in general: hell yeah

although something tells me this is NOT a problem for randoseru in Japan

[eru]

Probably not. Though I did leave plenty of stuff behind in Singapore (like on the train etc), which is about as safe as Japan. Much of which, I got back, and some was lost forever.