Today I’m sharing one of my favorite little purses, the Baggu Soft Circle Purse. There’s something about the shape that endears it to me right away. If this purse were rectangular or square, I wouldn’t be into it as much.
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Baggu Soft Circle Purse – $180
On most days, I carry my Everlane Pocket Tote or Twill Zip Top Tote (both reviewed here) because I schlep a lot of stuff around. But when I need just the basics with me for an event or dinner with a friend, I turn to my trusty circle purse. The one I own is an oxblood color from a few seasons ago; I believe it’s from fall or winter 2016.
The bag’s diameter is about 8.75″ diameter; it’s 2″ deep. That’s plenty of room for my square-zip wallet (reviewed here), phone, lip balm, and a few other things.
I love the outside slip pocket — and the fact that the Baggu logo is small and tastefully stamped.
Inside are two interior pockets, one on each side of the purse. Each slip pocket has a divider down the middle, so it’s actually more like four pockets. Gotta love pockets! I do wish the interior liner was a lighter color, though, so it’d be easier to view the contents of the bag.
The strap has a 22″ drop. You can wear it on the shoulder, or depending on your height, crossbody. The stitching on my strap is not 100% straight, but this is a small quibble.
On the older versions of this bag, like mine, the strap is adjustable.
The most recent iteration of this bag has a 21″ cord strap instead of a flat one. You can only adjust the length of the strap by knotting it.
The newer bag also has a leather pull on the brass zipper pull, and the cord strap is not stitched onto the side like the flat strap, but those changes seem to be the only difference between the different versions of the bag. The general design is the same. Even though the cord strap looks cleaner in the way it attaches to the body of the bag, I prefer the flat strap for the ability to adjust it without knotting it.
The purse is made out of natural milled calfskin leather and it is soft! The texture is pebbled, but not overly so (I’m not a fan of leather that’s really pebbled). Since the leather is unfinished, Baggu recommends conditioning it once in a while. I’m happy to report that Baggu is an ethical brand and makes its leather goods in the USA. Overall, the quality seems nice.
The bag retails for $180, though you can wait and snag it on sale like I did. You can buy directly from Baggu, but many other retailers carry them, including big department stores like Bloomingdales and Nordstrom. (And that means you might be able to score Baggu at Nordstrom Rack!) If you, like me, prefer the flat strap version, you can still find the earlier version online (for example, in black here)
Baggu also makes a canvas version of the purse that comes in a small size (7″ diameter, now sold out) and a larger one. Want a matching circular wallet? Baggu makes that too.
I love this bag’s minimalist look. I guess circle purses are a trend? Here’s a pricey one by Mansur Gavriel, Rebecca Minkoff’s take, and a Target one (on sale this weekend). I’m currently coveting this Cuyana circle belt bag. They also make a circle crossbody bag that’s similar to the Baggu one, but more structured. I don’t care much for trends, but this is one that can stick around as far as I’m concerned.
UPDATE 10/7/19 – Just noticed that Baggu now makes two sizes of the circle purse, the size I reviewed and a mini version that’s 2″ smaller. They also seemed to have updated their manufacturing process. The description now reads, “This bag was made using DriTan™ water efficient technology, and is estimated to have saved 4 liters of water during production.” I also noticed that the cotton canvas lining is now light-colored and 65% of it is recycled. The price of the larger circle purse has gone up slightly from $180 to $188.
