Away Daily Crossbody Review

The Daily Crossbody from Away is a 2L bag to carry your everyday essentials (Of course it is! It’s right there in the name!). It does that well with its thoughtful organization and separated compartments, taking us from home to work each day, then functioning well to sightsee in a new city. What’s different from some other crossbody bags is the bag’s adaptability to different carry modes. While some sling bags and pouches have straps that lengthen to allow different options, Away has included additional straps for maximum flexibility.

How does it all come together, and does it work cohesively? Let’s find out.

External Components

Looking around outside the Daily Crossbody, you’ll notice Away has used a minimalistic aesthetic when designing this bag. The water-resistant black nylon used throughout the bag’s exterior is easy to wipe clean and brush off, but its style is more than just utilitarian. That’s not to say you’ll see it on the red carpet in Hollywood, but we feel comfortable toting it around Chicago for a weekend getaway.

Much of that has to do with the subtle branding Away uses throughout the crossbody. There’s a small leather tab adjacent to the bottom right corner of the front pocket that says ‘Away’ in raised metallic letters, the Away name is stamped on the zippers, and that’s it for outside branding. Inside, there’s a 1.25-inch metal Away logo on a small leather accent piece attached to the interior pocket and the name stamped on a small, gray internal zipper pull.

Speaking of the zippers, the two external compartments close with brushed nickel CCBS zippers. We haven’t had much experience with this Chinese company, but they slide nicely and get the job done on this bag.

The remaining hardware scattered around the Daily Crossbody is unbranded. That includes the brushed nickel slide on the shoulder strap and the waist strap, the heavy metal enclosure for the plastic buckle on the waist strap, and the brushed nickel hooks used to attach and detach the crossbody shoulder strap to the bag. It all functions well, although we did notice some of the matte finish on the hooks beginning to chip off where they attach to the bag. We’ve been testing this bag for about a month as of this writing, so that’s a bit disappointing, although it’s not very noticeable right now. We’ll keep you updated in the Usage Timeline if it continues and becomes more apparent.

The Daily Crossbody can be carried in one of three ways and includes two straps to make that happen. The detachable shoulder strap can extend from 32 to 62 inches long to help you find the perfect fit. It is a 1.25-inch wide nylon webbing strap with a thin leather strap keeper and swivel hooks attached at each end with leather loops. The metal hooks attach to the bag via small metal D-rings on each end of the bag’s rear side, very close to the top to prevent the bag from tipping forward while you’re carrying it.

The other strap is a waist belt situated 2 inches from the top of the bag, permanently attached with a 2-inch piece of angled nylon fabric. The 1.5-inch wide nylon belt has the satiny feel of a seatbelt, unlike the coarser shoulder strap. The right side of the belt is adjustable with a metal slide from 16.5 to 28 inches and includes a small leather strap keeper. It ends in a nearly 2-inch wide chunky plastic buckle. The left side is a 7-inch strap ending with a heavy 1-inch enclosure for the buckle.

All of that is to say that, depending on your preference, you can carry the Daily Crossbody as a crossbody or shoulder bag, a waist pack, or a sling. We like that Away includes a back panel pocket on either side of the bag where we can tuck in the waist belt when we’re not using it. Coupled with the removable shoulder strap, it makes for a clean look no matter how you prefer to carry it since no extraneous straps are hanging around when not in use. Nice!

Fit Notes

Wearing the Daily Crossbody from Away, as the name suggests it’s intended, it rests nicely in front of your hips (or just to the back of them—you do you), looking like we expect a crossbody bag to look. Its minimal aesthetic finds the perfect fit in offices, museums, restaurants, and on the train, as well as outdoors in the park, although we prefer a backpack for heavy-duty hiking. Strolling through town or the neighborhood, however, it looks great.

When we tried it as a waist pack, however, we felt like a frumpy mom from the late ‘80s. When fully packed, the bag can expand to a depth of about 4 inches, and when you combine this with the fact that the waist belt is 2 inches from the top, it falls forward unflatteringly at the waist, accentuating any post-lunch bloat. Your mileage may vary, but this isn’t a look we like. Also, remember that heavy metal buckle cover we mentioned? While it’s sleek and stylish to look at, when we wear this bag as a waist pack in front, it digs into our back because the bag pulls forward. Flip it around and wear it as a throw-back fanny pack, you say? Then the buckle digs into your stomach. Multiple team members tried this, and none of us could find the right fit for this use, but maybe it’ll work better for you!

However, extending the waist strap and wearing it as a sling close to the chest has some merit. While it doesn’t conform to your body as some other slings do, it’s an okay way to carry the Daily Crossbody when we want to keep the essentials close at hand. We recommend angling it over your right shoulder and under your left arm if you do so, though, to keep the front pocket zipper facing up instead of down when it’s on your front.

Now let’s take a look inside, beginning with that front section.

Inside The Crossbody

The Daily Crossbody has two sections for your belongings: a smaller front compartment and a larger main section. The front opens with a U-shaped zipper that moves from the user’s right to left when you are wearing the bag. The 8-inch wide by 5-inch deep section includes a dedicated phone pocket, but the remaining space is open, making it a nice spot for a wallet, hand sanitizer, and other small items you want within easy reach.

However, we have one minor and one more significant gripe about this section. The small issue is one we encounter with the main compartment, as well, but it’s more pronounced here: when zipping it closed, the zipper can get stuck when rounding the left corner due to the flexibility of the nylon fabric. Sometimes you need to grab the bag with your other hand to make it easier to zip closed. Not a huge issue. The larger (but still small) annoyance is with the “dedicated phone pocket”—that’s what Away calls it on its site, so that’s how we use it. It is 7 inches wide and 4 inches tall, with its opening running on an angle from the bottom left up past the center at the top.

You’ll recall that the front compartment has a one-way zipper that opens from the right. This phone pocket faces the left, which means we have to unzip the pocket almost all the way (the zipper ends 2 inches from the bottom of the left side) to grab our phone. We’re not bag designers, so maybe the developers had a reason for this, but we wish the zipper and the phone pocket faced the same way so we didn’t have to open the section nearly all the way to grab our phone. A silver lining is that a passport fits nicely in this “phone pocket.” In that case, the harder it is for something to slide out of that pocket, the more security you have for your ID. So if this irritates you, look on the bright side, knowing your gear will be more secure when traveling. That’s what we’re doing.

Last but not least, we have the main compartment. It opens with a dual-sided zipper that extends on each side just past the bottom of the bag. Doing so allows it to open wide to see everything in your bag at once. Don’t worry; it’s stopped from opening completely (and dumping your gear) by 5-inch nylon gussets on each side. They’re attached at the bottom of the bag’s gray nylon lining to prevent anything from slipping out of the Daily Crossbody when it’s open.

Working from back to front, there is a 4.5-inch deep open pocket spanning the width of the bag. It is slightly padded and topped with black leather trim. We stash cash and AirPods here, and it works well for that.

Attached to the front of this sleeve via a black leather loop is a removable key clip on a 7-inch leash. We find it’s a good length for pulling keys out to unlock a door, and having it means we don’t have to scrounge around the bottom of the bag when we need them—just tug the leash, and up they come. The leash includes small swivel hooks on each side, with one attaching to your keys and the other to the small D-ring in the leather loop. If you don’t use a key clip, you can hook other small gear or pouches to that ring to keep them exactly where you want them.

On the front side is a mesh pocket that closes with a small unbranded zipper. Depending on your preference, toss small toiletries or tiny travel accessories in here to keep the bag organized. We enjoy how the organizational features work on the Daily Crossbody because it makes it easy to find what we’re looking for at any time. The remaining space is open for use as you choose. During that Chicago excursion, we used it for snacks, museum maps, and tissues, but a packable jacket would fit here when you need an extra layer, as would a Nintendo Switch when you need amusement. Choose your own adventure and keep what you need close at hand with the Daily Crossbody from Away.