North St. HQ is MOVING!
2134 N. Flint Ave
Portland OR 97227
The new spot is one block away from one of the major bike streets on the east side, N Vancouver Ave - a street dotted with art, parks, and delicious food. This is the building's second stint as a bag making studio, and we're really excited to get to know our new neighbors.
Dates to know:
We will close the showroom at Poplar on Monday 4/10 and soft open the shop on Flint on Tuesday 4/18.
We will pause receiving on all new return and repair inquiries on 4/3, through our move date on 4/12. If you reach out to us during this window about a return or repair, you will get instructions for shipping your bag to us after 4/12 to ensure the smoothest possible processing.
We're also planning out our move to reduce interruptions to our lead time and shipping abilities, but there will likely be a few delays as we pack up and settle in. If you have any time-critical bag needs during our move window, please let us know in advance.
See you in the new space! Travel well and adventure right out there!
-The North St. Bags Team
New Velcro-on Micro Pannier 14L
Last year Oregon-based gravel legends Old Man Mountain Racks approached us wanting to engineer a version of our Micro Pannier to be rock, drop, bump, and jump proof. They’ve been putting this design to the test on the road (and off-road) throughout 2022.
They’ve been on so many awesome adventures that we decided to launch our own version in our classic EcoPak colors. Now is your chance to grab a velcro-on pannier direct from the North St. line.
Our new Adventure Edition features a velcro-on attachment system for gravel touring. The heavy duty hook and loop is sturdy enough for hopping rock gardens and taking gravel waves in stride.
These simple side haulers weigh in at a breezy 13.5oz and will stash extra clothing, repair kits, lunch and snacks. Made from a single layer of waterproof sailcloth, the streamlined and simple Micro Pannier features an external zipper pocket for minimalist bikepacking and single track adventures.
Comes with voile strap for bottom-of-rack mounting security.
Trying to decide between the new build and the hook and bungee Commuter edition? Check out this breakdown of the features of each system to determine which is right for you:
Weirdo Bags for Your Weirdo Friends!
Where did these bags even come from?? And just in time to be ready to ship Valentine's Day gifts???
Imagine: it's a brisk winter morning in Portland - uncharacteristically dry and sunny for a Pacific Northwestern winter. You unlock the door and walk into the North St. shop, and the QA table is filled with a veritable menagerie of packs crafted from scrap fabric of projects gone by! How did they get here? What are we going to do with them?
Okay, maybe it wasn't so mysterious in reality. In preparation for our winter clearance sale and an unannounced exciting business update, we've digging deep into our archived scrap fabric and making some weird custom pouches, totes, and fanny packs.
Our amazing production team sprung into action to clean out the bits and pieces we've been holding onto. You'll find some of our rad organizer pockets, sturdy beach totes, and festival fanny packs made with funky colors, reflective flash, and wiggly patterns. These are the only and last editions of these packs, so get them while they're in stock!
All clearance bags are ready to ship. Order your Valentine's Day gifts by 2/6 to arrive by 2/14.
Travel Well and Adventure Right
- The North St. Bags Team
Highly water resistant, 100% recycled EcoPak fabric. Backpacks and bike pannier bags designed, cut, and sewn in-house in Portland, OR.
North St. Bags
1551 Southeast Poplar Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97214
(503) 419-6230
Made in the USA
Retirement Announcement: Venture, Scout, and more...
One of the comments that we hear from folks who learn about North St. online and come into our store is "I thought you were a much bigger company!"
We do have a lot of great photography, a big following of awesome fans, and our sewing team produces an incredible amount of bags. And, truth be told, we're proud of every bag, pouch, and organizer that we send out into the world.
And we also have to be conscious about where we put our time and energy! Every bag in our line takes training, patterning, and resources to keep available, and sometimes we find ourselves ready to retire and redirect that bandwidth.
Now is one of those times - we're saying goodbye to a short list of bags and accessories so we can keep iterating and innovating. Here are a few designs that we're sending to retirement to help make room in our production line for cool new pieces:
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Venture Pannier - 30L
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Scout 6L Handlebar Duffle
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Handlebar Pouch
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CLEARANCE - Fuel Pouch
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These will be available to shop on our site until the March 13th, 2023, so get 'em while they're hot! After that, any leftover stock will head to clearance and you'll need to roll a persuasion check (or commit to a minimum) to place a special order ;P
Travel Well and Adventure Right!
-The North St. Bags Team
Winter Clearance Sale
Handmade backpacks and panniers up to 40% off!
Looking to get outfitted for your spring commute or the start of concert season? Jump on our winter clearance sale! We have an unprecedented number of samples, 2nds, custom-one offs, and gently used backpacks and bike panniers available for purchase.
Shop handmade waterproof backpacks and bike panniers on sale. Recycled backpacks, unique sample builds, totes, handlebar bags and more are available on our website at sale prices. You'll find great deals on handmade, craftsmanship quality backpacks, pannier backpacks, and fanny packs.
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CLEARANCE Flanders Backpack
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CLEARANCE - Venture Pannier - 30L
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SPECIAL EDITION | Tabor Tote - 26L
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The Alchemy of Bag Making
Add some wizardry to your daily carry.
There’s something magical about sewing - it takes flat pieces of fabric and transforms them into complex, usable geometric creations. Our entire upcycled collection is a showcase of that principle, transforming donated event banners into durable, waterproof daily commuter backpacks.
Each recycled backpack is completely unique. The cut positioning remixes the patterns for each new handmade backpack, so the daypack you get is entirely your own.
Our current collection brings the vibrant summery energy of the races and festivals they came from and molds them into the perfect daypack for the beach, a concert outing, or suffusing your commute with a little daydreaming.
We processed a new set of banners and tents in, expanding our offerings for the Davis Daypack. If the Fire Red wasn't your jam, check out our Cobalt Blue and Royal Orange editions.
This is a limited, rolling collection that we'll keep making until we run out of repurposed material to use.
If your company has scrap or waste material that you'd like to donate or turn into bags, reach out to us and let's see what we can make!
Featured Gear:
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LTD Upcycled Davis Daypack
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LTD Upcycled Pioneer 8 Hip Pack
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Travel Well and Adventure Right!
Highly water resistant, 100% recycled EcoPak fabric. Backpacks and bike pannier bags designed, cut, and sewn in-house in Portland, OR.
North St. Bags
1551 Southeast Poplar Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97214
(503) 419-6230
Made in the USA
In the Press: Gear Patrol's Best Bike Panniers
Featured Product:
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Woodward Backpack Pannier
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The Woodward was featured on Gear Patrol's list of Best Bike Panniers, a roundup of the best commuter panniers by Meg Lappe.
"This pannier and backpack comes from the Pacific Northwest, so you can bet that it’s waterproof. There’s a lifetime warranty on the Woodward, which backs up its craftsmanship (each bag is made by hand). It comes in three colors — deep green, bold navy and black, each with reflective detailing so you don’t have to worry about riding at night. The internal laptop sleeve is a must-have, and the external pockets make it easy to stash your phone so you can check directions at stop lights. Attaching it to your bike is a breeze: just slide the hooks over your rear rack and connect the bungee cord. The hide-away backpack straps are a huge convenience as I hop on and off my bike frequently along my route. Velcro seals all the external pockets, so while loud, I’ve never once worried about my keys flying out mid-commute."
-Meg Lappe, for Gear Patrol
In the Press: The North St. Upcycled Collection
You want sustainable, durable backpacks and pannier made from bike race tents? We got 'em.
Late last year, we started connecting with publications about one of our most ambitious projects to date- our upcycled collection. Tried and true designs, made from heavy duty vinyl and fabric banners that often see glory for one event season and then either end up heading to a landfill or aging in warehouse storage.
Ideally, our upcycled collection will become a rotating cast of donated and salvaged fabric. For now, we're just excited to be able to divert what we can from the landfill, and forge relationships with event producers looking to close the loop on material disposal.
Check out some shout outs from around the way!
The Radavist: Radar Roundup
"Your favorite North St. packs are now built with reclaimed materials. The team at North St rescued 300+ lbs of usable fabric from hitting the landfill and converted the material into panniers, hip bags, backpacks, and more."
Inside Outdoor: North St. Bags Launches Upcycled Collection of Packs, Panniers
"North St. launched its 2022 limited-edition Upcycled Collection of packs and panniers, made from tents and banners used at some of the country’s most iconic endurance events. The rugged outdoor fabrics, donated by Life Time and SRAM, have served in the field — including at the New York City Triathlon, the Leadville Race Series mountain bike and trail running events in the Colorado Rockies, and the notable marathons and half marathons on the streets of Chicago and Miami.
Bike Portland: Business News Roundup: North St. Bags, Portland Design Works, Gracie’s Wrench
"We’ve been big supporters of North St. since the very beginning. When founder Curtis Williams showed up at our BikeCraft event in 2009, it was clear he had the right mix of ambition and passion to make his business fly. These days North St.’s panniers are so ubiquitous they’ve become a signature Portland accessory.
Earlier this month the company launched a new line of upcycled bags with a neat origin story. North St.’s new Upcycled Collection is made from tents and banners used at major endurance events. Using fabric and materials donated by event organizer Life Time and component maker SRAM, they’ve added four new products to their lineup: a hip pack, daypack, grocery pannier and a “micro” pannier. North St. says the new bags will save over half a ton of waste from the landfill this year. And like all North St. products, they’re made right here in Portland!"
Everyday Carry: North St. Bags Upcycled Collection
Behind the Scenes: Project Workshop
Take a peek at one of our internal improvement processes! We held a shop project workshop, running through a guided format, asking each other questions, mapping out our priorities, and honing in on the most important long-term projects to focus on in the coming months.
Most of our time is focused on production - cutting, sewing, hardware, shipping, new product development. But sometimes the best thing to do is to pause, get together and look at the forest for the trees - what’s working, what’s not working, what’s next?
Ranked choice voting (those little dots on some of the notes) helps steer us to consensus on the real focal points of our concerns. Surprisingly, the note “pinball machine for the breakroom” didn’t make the top 5 - such a responsible team!
One of the principles that drives North St. is the goal of continuous improvement. We huddle daily to keep everyone updated on upcoming projects, talk over pain points, and see if anyone needs an extra hand in their department for the day. In line with the Lean principles that Curtis adapted to build the company, every operator is empowered to bring issues and offer solutions from their point of expertise.
We’re not aiming for “perfection” - that’s not really a thing that happens in manufacturing (or, arguably, reality). It’s the idea that we’re capable of doing better - we just can’t let that go. It’s what keeps us making sustainable backpacks and recycled bike bags, refining our processes to balance crafting the bags we want to make and our own well being.
You’ll see it in our end product - the yearly updates and tweaks to our designs and line. Here you can see it in action to support our crew! We’re making sure that we’re ready for what comes next and addressing outstanding questions.
This year, we’re looking forward to a potential shop move (we’ll keep you updated!), refining our product line, powering forward on more upcycling projects, and (always) improving our ergonomics and efficiency.
We came out of this exercise with tired brains, lots of great ideas to make our lives better, and a realistic action plan with next steps on the most important projects.
Stay tuned for more from your local bike bag makers! Travel Well & Adventure Right!
-The North St. Bags Team
Highly water resistant, 100% recycled EcoPak fabric. Backpacks and bike pannier bags designed, cut, and sewn in-house in Portland, OR.
North St. Bags
1551 Southeast Poplar Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97214
(503) 419-6230
Made in the USA
Look Back at 2022
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, friends. Thank you so much for all of the love in 2022, and supporting bags made in the USA. ❤️ It’s thanks to you that we can make such tough bike panniers and durable everyday backpacks. Every Portland made backpack that you buy supports a small business dedicated to creating the best backpacks we can!
Join us in taking a beat to reflect on what we're most proud of from the last year, and what we're looking forward to continuing in the new year!
Saved (almost) a Literal Ton
This summer, we launched our upcycled collection with donations from bike race event banners and diverted over 400lbs of usable, durable, and frankly, really cool material from the landfill.
Our plan for 2023 is to keep the upcycling going - if you know anyone looking to recycle outdoor event banners and tents to a good cause, reach out to us at customerservice@northstbags.com!
>> Check out the current Upcycled Collection
Exploded in the E-bike Scene
We started offering upsized hooks for oversized cargo and e-bike racks and the crowd went wild! We're so proud to be able to outfit all of your awesome cargo bikes with our durable, rainproof panniers.
Related article: How to Choose the Right Hook Size
Recycled over 10,000 bottles
We switched our main fabric source from virgin nylon to EcoPak! Each yard contains fiber spun from around 20 recycled plastic bottles. After testing EcoPak as a material on some of our flagship builds in 2020 and 2021, we decided to start transitioning more and more of our product line to use recycled and upcycled materials wherever possible.
>> Related article: North St. Fabric Rundown
Community Action
We continued our partnership with the Community Cycling Center, donating at least 1% of our profits to their Low Income Commuter Program in alignment with our 1% for the Planet commitment (and just because we love the work they do in our city!).
>> Read More about Community Cycling Center's programs
We hope your 2023 includes miles and miles of fun on two wheels with good company!
Travel Well & Adventure Right!
-The North St. Bags Team
Highly water resistant, 100% recycled EcoPak fabric. Backpacks and bike pannier bags designed, cut, and sewn in-house in Portland, OR.
North St. Bags
1551 Southeast Poplar Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97214
(503) 419-6230
Made in the USA
How to Choose the Right Pannier Hook Size
North Street launched our cargo bike inclusive pannier hooks earlier this year! Wondering which size to order? We got you!
We love our hook system - it's strong, durable, and easy to service after whatever dents years on the road have in store. The simplicity of this system also means that there's no room for planned obsolescence, but plenty of room to adjust it to fit your bike perfectly.
How To Measure For Your New Panniers
The main consideration in choosing our 3 hook sizes is the diameter of the top bar of your rack.
measure the diameter of the top bar
The most common top bar measurement for road bike racks is ~9mm, or 3/8". Many cargo and e-bikes have thicker than usual rack bars to support additional riders, kids' seats, and bigger, heavier loads in general.
You can order our hooks up to 3/4" to make our panniers compatible with many of these custom built-in cargo and e-bike racks.
Not every rack falls perfectly into the 3/8" (9mm) / 1/2" (12mm) / 3/4" (16mm) measurements that we offer. Fortunately, our stainless steel hooks are prime for some adjustment without compromising hold or quality.
For most average users, the hooks can be bent outward up to around 1/2" over their standard size. So if your rack measures 10 or 11mm, you can simply adapt the standard 9mm hooks to fit.
The exception to this is heavy use. If you are regularly carrying 20+ pounds in your bag, we recommend you spring for the larger hooks and tighten them down to fit to ensure longevity of the hook system.
Rad Power Racks (and other Super Oversized Racks)
Our current pannier offering maxes out at 3/4". We've tested these hooks on racks up to 1" and found they still keep a solid hold.
Some Rad Power bikes (and a few other custom cargo bikes) have a tube diameter up to 1 1/2". We have not fit or strength tested against this thick of a bar. While we have chatted with some folks who have made it work with our largest hooks, you'll usually catch us recommending up a pannier adapter bar if you're commuting with one of these.
Travel Well and Adventure Right with North Street Bags!
Sailcloth Repair Guide
Let's talk about breaking our bags.
We want to keep you on the road. It's why we choose high quality materials and maintain strict quality control protocols, and why we offer a strong warranty and paid repair program.
EcoPak sailcloth is designed to hold up against the weather, UV rays, and the rigors of every day use. The majority of our packs are built with EPX200 as the main fabric, with EPX600 as a bracing panel for larger packs in need of high abrasion resistance. Laminate materials offer superior waterproofing, and the 200 denier face fabric means strong performance for your every day life. But we've seen the aftermath of nasty bails onto sharp rocks, forgotten pocket knifes left unfolded in the bottom of a pannier, dogs on the hunt for leftover granola, to name a few. Laminate fabric's main weakness is piercing and slashing damage.
Tears and punctures that happen through normal use of the bag aren't covered under our warranty, but they don't mean that your pack is done for! Between our paid repair program and an array of at-home repairs available, you can get back on the road in no time.
Repair Tape
When you're looking for a cost effective way to repair your panniers and keep them close to home, we have have tested a number of gear repair tapes to find one that stands up to our standards of waterproofing, durability, and adherence.
Our number 1 recommendation is Tear-Aid (Type A). Tear-Aid is a no-sew sailcloth repair tape. It held up through our abrasion, puncture, and waterproofing tests, and adhered fantastically through in-situ test rides. It's easy enough to apply on the road, and durable enough for a semi-permanent repair.
We don't carry stock of this yet, but it is available at many hardware and sporting goods stores (find your nearest store here). Make sure to clean your pack before applying and follow all instructions for the best patch.
In-house Repair
If you have the time to send your pack in to us for service, we are always open to taking on repair work. Cost varies with the intensity of the repair, but expect to pay $25-$45 for most panel replacement or patching work, depending on location, size, and complexity.