Fjallraven Kanken Hip Pack Plus Review

Fans of Fjallraven’s Kanken bags have a lot of options to choose from, whether it’s the Fjallraven Kanken Laptop Backpack, the Fjallraven Kanken Mini, and a variety of toiletry bags, wallets, and other daypacks to fit any need. They all sport the same Kanken shape and style, and we’re not surprised to see that they’ve also thrown a few slings into the mix, including the Fjallraven Kanken Hip Pack, which we enjoyed testing.

But can the Kanken Hip Pack Plus live up to the hype? Bigger isn’t always better, so we carried it around metro Detroit for a few weeks while exploring local museums, zoos, and athletic events to find out.

External Components

The Fjallraven Kanken Hip Pack Plus shares many of the same features as the Kanken Hip Pack. Both are made with Vinylon F, the material used for most Kanken products, and both sport YKK zippers and Woojin hardware. The zippers work fantastically, as we expect.

The Woojin G-clips are easy to move from one set of attachment points to the other, depending on whether you prefer the strap to wrap around your waist or hug you crossbody or if you’d prefer it to extend straight up for a style more conducive to carrying over the shoulder.

We’re assuming that Woojin also made the adjuster for the strap, although there’s no visible branding on it. However, that’s the only hardware we can complain about on the Hip Pack Plus. It holds tightly to the strap and stays in place where you put it—that’s the pro—but it takes a lot of effort to get it where you want—that’s the con. With a daypack, that wouldn’t be a problem, as you’d set it and forget it unless you’re sharing with another user, but we find that we’re more likely to need to adjust a crossbody bag or waist pack more often since there are more options for how you wear it on your body. Moving from a tight waist pack to a longer crossbody carry is not a quick switch, no matter how many times we do it, and we find it quite frustrating to do, leading us to leave the Hip Pack Plus behind when the strap isn’t the right length rather than going through the hassle of shortening or lengthening it. That’s not what you want in a sling, that’s for sure, though at least it has a built-in strap keeper to prevent any dangling.

We didn’t have that issue at all with the smaller Kanken Hip Pack, and found that strap super easy to adjust while also noting that it stayed in place, so we’re not quite sure why this one is so resistant to change, but it is what it is. We can only hope it’s only an issue with our sample and not a wider problem, but it’s something to know about just in case.

If you’re thinking by now that perhaps you should just go for the smaller original, we’ll fill you in on what you’re giving up if you do. The Hip Pack Plus is roughly 2 inches taller and 1 inch each wider and deeper than the Hip Pack to give you an additional 2L capacity (4L vs 2L). You cannot move the strap on the smaller bag, whereas the strap on the larger Plus is movable and removable. Out of the box, it’s attached to two webbing loops on the sides of the sling so that it extends upward, more like a crossbody bag or a purse. However, two webbing loops extend out the bag’s back panel. If you unhook the gatekeeper clip on the G-hooks, you can move the strap to these loops, allowing the strap to extend out the middle of the bag’s back panel to lay more flatly against your waist or chest when wearing it as a hip pack or crossbody across your chest.

Both bags include carry handles, but the Hip Pack Plus has two, like a larger Kanken bag, and also includes a wrap permanently attached to the rear handle that can surround the front handle to hold them together. We never use it, though, since you must undo it to get into the sling and it was a hassle to snap and unsnap each time. Since the handles don’t get in our way when separated, we see no reason to keep them together, but your mileage may vary. In a nod to Kanken daypacks, the front handle extends down the front of the bag to create four shallow loops (two on each side) where you can hook a carabiner to carry something outside the bag.

The Hip Pack Plus also includes a large Fjallraven Kanken logo patch on its front, which adds a fun aesthetic to the sling, as do the available colorways, like the Ultramarine we’re testing. Even in more muted Black or Fog colorways, the logo lends a fun feel and proclaims your love for the brand to the world. How you feel about that is up to you, but if you’re buying a true Fjallraven Kanken and not a Kanken knockoff, you probably want people to know you have the genuine article.

You’ll feel some padding on the back of the bag to blunt the feeling of gear you carry in the main compartment. If you’re loading it up with a tablet, Nintendo Switch, or other large or bulky gear, you’ll probably be happy it’s there, but we don’t really notice it in daily use.

Fit Notes

The Fjallraven Kanken Hip Pack Plus is a casual bag, in keeping with the rest of the line. It’s good to carry throughout a day’s explorations, since it has space for just about anything you’d need, and it fits in nature as well as it does the city.

It is rather bulky, so it’s not the type of sling you can comfortably tuck under a coat to sneak on board as a second personal item bag (not that we condone such shenanigans!), but if you’re slinging it over a large winter coat to check out holiday lights and want to carry gloves, tissues, snacks, and more, it’s a decent option. The broad strap has no padding, but its width does an OK job of spreading the weight of what’s in the bag, especially if you have the padding of extra layers on your shoulders.

We can feel it more when wearing just a shirt, though, so you might not want to pack it so completely if you’re hiking while wearing a tank top. Or do so, but wear it around your waist as the name suggests if you do. The bulge around the waist isn’t our favorite look, but it sure beats a sore shoulder.

Inside The Sling

Of course, the benefit of such a large sling is what you can carry inside of it, and the good news is that it’s quite a lot. The Fjallraven Kanken Hip Pack Plus has two compartments, each lined with polyamide material and with a bit of built-in organization.

We’ll start with the front compartment, which opens in a horseshoe shape around the front. Its two zipper pulls are protected by a fabric welt, Kanken-style, and we occasionally have the same issues grabbing the metal zipper pulls from where they’re tucked under the flap that we have with other Kanken products.

Inside, you’ll see two pockets topped with one zipper. They’re a good size for earbuds, mints or gum, hand sanitizer, and even a minimalist wallet, though in order to access the pocket on the right, you must open the zipper across the pocket on the left. It doesn’t seem like a big issue, but it’s not our favorite design. There’s more space remaining in front of the zippered pockets, as well, if you want to toss other small gear there to keep it from rolling around the main compartment.

That section opens with a zipper across the top of the bag, again with dual heads so you can open it anywhere along the track. It’s much easier to get into than the front pocket, and it’s where we put the majority of the gear we wanted to use most often.

There’s a giant slip pocket against the back panel, and that’s it for organization inside the main compartment. It has an ID patch on its front so someone can contact you if they find your bag, but otherwise, this area is a simple open space, and there’s a lot of it.

You can fit a Nintendo Switch or Kindle in here, or even a packable travel jacket and gloves or a small water bottle, so it’s good if you want to carry much more than your pockets can handle but don’t need all the space afforded by a daypack. We can even slide in our large over-ear travel headphones in a case without any sacrifices. There’s still room for a phone, wallet, keys, and other small sundries you need throughout the day. That makes it protrude quite a bit from your body, though, so you’ll want to keep that in mind if that’s not a look you like. If you load it up this way, you’ll definitely be happy to have the help of the handles as you put it over and pull it off since there’s no buckle to undo on the strap, and that’s the only way to wear it.

So, if you can’t get enough of the Kanken style of bags and want to add a larger Hip Pack to your collection, this may be the bag for you. We find the strap adjustment frustrating and the size and shape too bulky for our tastes, but if you’re going out exploring all day and need to carry a bit with you to avoid having to return to the hotel two or three times to pick things up, it may be a good option.