Salkan Tripper Cross Body Bag Review

There’s a reason that the crossbody sling style is so ubiquitous—it’s casual, comfortable, and functional. Of course, functionality is dependent on the size of the sling as well as any built-in organization. The Salkan Tripper Cross Body Bag includes many small pockets for things like memory cards, earphones, and smart trackers, while also including slightly larger pockets for travel accessories that are a little bigger.

It’s designed to keep your essentials handy while on the go, with a functional heritage style that fits in many places, from the store to the office to the airport. But how does it perform? Let’s find out!

External Components

Right off the bat, we have to talk about the feeling of the material on the Cross Body Bag. It’s really nice to touch and seems to be both soft and sturdy at the same time. The fabric is a 900D recycled COTNA polyester with a wax finish and polyurethane (PU) lining. We looked into it a little more and found that COTNA is a brand name for a high-performance polyester yarn used in technical, athletic, and leisure wear, but this feels more like a durable cotton than yoga pants, so we’re digging the choice. The bag liner is a 210D recycled nylon with a PU liner, presumably for durability.

As of this writing, the Salkan Tripper Cross Body Bag comes in black and only black, but we like the look. It’s not too serious or fussy, yet dirt brushes off easily, so it still looks as nice as the day we got it. Pet hair does stick a bit, so we recommend hanging it up to keep it out of reach of your furry friends, who undoubtedly will try to use it as a pillow if you don’t.

YKK zippers work well and include cords for pulls to make them easier to grasp than small pieces of metal. We never had any problems finding or using the zippers, which is excellent since this sling has quite a few scattered around.

We’re also happy to see Woojin hardware on the 360-degree swivel strap clips, which are a triangular gatekeeper style. While this type of clip can be finicky to take on and off, it stays in place well. Since we didn’t tend to take the strap on and off constantly, a little extra effort is OK.

The strap itself is a typical strip of webbing. It’s not too soft and slippery or too rough, although it can slip off the shoulder of a rain jacket if you’re not wearing it crossbody. We find that happens with this type of strap on other bags, as well, and it’s more a combination of the two slick materials than any fault with this bag. Pro tip: if you want to wear it more like a purse (i.e., over one shoulder), shorten the strap to bring the bag closer to the middle of your torso; it works much better than if it’s hanging down by your hip.

There is one adjustment slide on the strap, and it stays in place well. It’s also easy to move when you want to adjust the strap, which is great.

All around the bag is a nice amount of padding, providing structure and protection for your gear. Although the bag can’t exactly sit upright on its narrow base, the material doesn’t sag on itself or look any different, whether full or empty.

Fit Notes

We’re digging the simple design of the Tripper Cross Body Bag here at Pack Hacker. It’s subtle and blends well with a lot of styles. The casual cords on the zippers might not work with an evening gown, but it’s fine for business casual, travel clothing, and sweats. That means it’s great to bring to the market, mall, or museum on your next trip.

You’ll be happy wherever you bring it because it’s really comfortable to carry. We like having it crossbody best, which isn’t surprising since it’s right there in the name. Still, if you like carrying things over just one shoulder, it works pretty well that way, too, as long as you shorten the strap as we suggested above.

Since it only has a 1.6L capacity, it doesn’t end up digging into your shoulder because there just isn’t enough space inside for enough gear to weigh you down that way. Of course, that leads us nicely into what will and will not fit inside, so let’s check it out!

Inside The Sling

You’d be forgiven for thinking there would be just one or two places to stash your gear in a bag this small, but you’d also be wrong. There are three compartments, including the main area—which has even more organization.

We’re going to start with the front pocket. It opens with a one-sided zipper about an inch down the front of the bag. You’ll see a few gussets in the bottom corners of this pocket, which give it a little independent capacity, but packing this area full will still push into the main compartment. It’s a simple open space, and we’ve been using it for sanitizer, hand lotion, and lip balm, but you can also use it for your phone, a minimalist wallet, and keys. Depending on the size of your phone and key ring, you may have to pick and choose, but if you have small and slim options, they ought to all fit.

There’s even a key clip in here, though it’s on such a short leash that it took us a while to spot it! The clip barely reaches the top of the zipper, so you have to push some material out of the way to hook them on, and we found that the clip can then get stuck on the zipper when you try to get them off. While some users like really short leashes to keep keys out of the way of the rest of your gear, we think this one might have benefitted from an additional centimeter to clear it from the zipper’s track.

Flip the bag to the back, and you’ll find another zipper pocket. This one doesn’t have additional depth baked in, but that’s OK because it’s designed to hold your passport. Still, we don’t recommend putting anything fatter inside because this side rests against your side, and feeling your AirPods case against your hip gets irritating after a while.

Finally, we have the main compartment, which opens with a dual-sided zipper and has a lot of extra pockets of its own.

We’ll start against the back panel, where you’ll find a zipper pocket. Open it, and you’ll find three more tiny pockets. They’re the right size for a smart tracker, SD cards, AirPods (without a protective case), and a small USB drive. Or dental floss, mints … you get the idea. It’s to lock down tiny gear you don’t want to slip out accidentally. The pockets lay flush against the rear of this pocket, though, staying out of the way even if you don’t use them all.

On the opposite side of the main compartment are two more slip pockets. All of these pockets have a bit of stretch built in, but these two are larger than the ones against the rear. They’re the right size for a slim wallet and our AirPods (which are in a chunky case and don’t fit as well in the smaller pockets). A battery bank also works well here, so you can be ready to power up at a moment’s notice.

Then there’s space left in the center, although it’s not much. While it’s nice to have all of this organization, in practice, it feels like you can’t really use all of them because there’s just not enough room. Either that, or you’re only sliding in a slim pocket notebook or a pack of gum outside the pockets. We find that using about half the pockets leaves room to slide a phone and a pack of tissues in the middle. That worked out well, and we like using the bag that way; you’ll just want to realize that if you Tetris everything into place and head out for a day of excursions, you may be fighting against all of the organization to put things back together if you’ve got it packed super tightly.