Being Scottish, I can almost claim Herschel Supply Co. as my country’s own as the first of the Cormack family’s manufacturing ventures began in Wick, Scotland. Although for reasons irrelevant outside my History classroom, they emigrated to a town called Herschel (you see what they did there?) in Canada – where nearly a century later, the Cormack’s great grandchildren started producing backpacks. Nowadays, those bags are sold all over the world, including at Street Casuals in Bristol, who just got in two new bags; the Study and Pop Quiz.

The Pop Quiz is your standard backpack with a main compartment and then two smaller pockets at the front, one of which is waterproof to keep your spare change dry ’cause everyone knows no homeless person likes wet money in their coffee cup. The bag comes in red, navy and black and  measures in at 17″ x 13″ and the main pocket is 5″ deep so is perfect for all those school books you carry to make yourself look smart.

The Study only comes in black and is more of a work bag with a cushioned sleeve on the inside which can fit any laptop up to 13″ wide (ie. a Macbook or any netbook). The strap of the bag is removable and so a fake leather handle features on the bag so it can be carried like a briefcase, which is more awkward than you’d think, trust me. I’ve never been on an escalator since.

Both of the bags come with a one year warranty and can be purchased from Street Casuals online.