By the Christmas Hearth family · Back to School
Every August I end up on the same Pinterest rabbit hole: “aesthetic backpack for college.” Millions of pins, and somehow I still end up back at the same five backpacks everyone’s actually buying. So instead of scrolling for another hour, I did the research for you.
This year’s back-to-school bag trends are a fun mix of nostalgia (JanSport is back in a big way), Scandinavian minimalism, and — the one that made me laugh — backpack charms. Kids are decorating their bags with plush little charms the way we used to load up our keychains. Below are the backpacks I kept seeing over and over, plus what I’d actually tell a college student to buy depending on what they need.
1. The Comeback Kid: JanSport Main Campus
JanSport backpacks are officially back — there’s a whole wave of “why does everyone suddenly have a JanSport again” content floating around, and it makes sense. The Main Campus is the same reliable bag a lot of us carried in school, just as sturdy and just as affordable. It holds a 15-inch laptop, has dual water bottle pockets, and comes in more than a dozen colors, so it’s an easy yes for a student who wants something classic without overthinking it.
Good to know: 32L capacity, padded 15″ laptop sleeve, around $50.
🛒 Shop the JanSport Main Campus on Amazon →
2. The Pinterest It-Bag: Fjällräven Kånken Laptop 17″
If you’ve spent any time on a “college backpack aesthetic” Pinterest board, you’ve seen this one — the boxy Swedish silhouette with the little handle on top shows up constantly. It’s less about maximum storage and more about looking put-together while still fitting a laptop and the essentials. It’s the bag for the student who cares as much about how it looks slung over one shoulder as what’s inside it.
Good to know: 20L capacity, fits a 17″ laptop, padded straps, around $105.
🛒 Shop the Fjällräven Kånken on Amazon →
3. The Everywhere Bag: Herschel Little America
This one’s been a college campus staple for years and it hasn’t lost momentum. It’s roomy enough for a full day of classes, dressy enough to not look like a hiking pack, and it comes in enough colorways that it never feels generic. If a student wants one bag that works for class, a weekend trip home, and everything in between, this is usually it.
Good to know: 30L capacity, fits a 16″ laptop, padded straps and back panel, around $110–130.
🛒 Shop the Herschel Little America on Amazon →
4. The Built-to-Last Pick: The North Face Borealis
For a student who’s hard on their gear — walking across a big campus in every kind of weather, tossing the bag on wet grass, cramming it into a locker — this is the one I’d point them to. It’s water-repellent, has a real laptop sleeve, and honestly just looks like it can take a beating and keep going.
Good to know: 28L capacity, water-repellent finish, padded laptop sleeve, around $115.
🛒 Shop The North Face Borealis on Amazon →
5. The One That Means She Never Has to Go Back to the Dorm: MATEIN Extra Large
This is the one my own daughter carries. She’s an engineering student, and between textbooks, a laptop, a calculator the size of a small toaster, and whatever project she’s hauling that week, going back to the dorm between classes just isn’t happening. So when she was picking a backpack, the deciding factor wasn’t the color or the aesthetic — it was simple: whichever one could hold the most.
The MATEIN Extra Large won that contest by a mile. At 45 liters it’s easily the biggest bag on this list, with a padded 18″ laptop compartment, a separate shoe/gym compartment, and enough structure that it doesn’t sag or slouch even when it’s completely full. It’s not the bag you buy for a cute Pinterest flat-lay — it’s the bag you buy so your kid can leave the dorm at 8am and not think about it again until dinner.
It also mattered to us that her campus gets real weather — plenty of snow and rain most of the school year — so a water-resistant build wasn’t optional. This one holds up fine walking across campus in a downpour or getting dropped in slush at a bus stop, which is more than I can say for some of the more “aesthetic” picks on this list.
Good to know: 45L capacity, fits an 18″ laptop, water-resistant build, separate shoe compartment, USB charging port, around $60–70.
🛒 Shop the MATEIN Extra Large on Amazon →
The Trend Nobody Saw Coming: Backpack Charms
This is the one that genuinely surprised me. Kids (and plenty of college students) are clipping plush little charms — Labubu-style figures, Jellycat Amuseables, even LEGO minifigures — onto their backpack zippers the same way we used to load up a keychain. It’s a small, inexpensive way to personalize a bag that would otherwise look like everyone else’s, and it’s turned into a genuine collecting hobby for a lot of kids. If your student wants to make a JanSport or Kånken feel like theirs without buying a whole new bag, this is the cheap, easy way in.
The Bottom Line
There’s no single “best” backpack for college — it really comes down to what your student actually needs. Want something classic and affordable? JanSport. Want something that looks good on camera? Kånken. Want it all in one bag that can survive four years of hard use? Herschel or North Face. And if your kid is anything like mine and refuses to make a single extra trip back to the dorm, get the biggest one you can find — the MATEIN will not let them down.
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