Designing Anti-Theft Bags For Women – With Jeannie Wong

Jeannie Wong is no stranger to designing anti-theft bags for women. She has been the design lead on Pacsafe’s bestselling Citysafe Collection, the classic Stylesafe Collection and the soon-to-be-released Cruise Collection. Prior to working at Pacsafe, Jeannie also spent a few years designing fashion bags. The experience helped her understand exactly what women look for in a bag, both in terms of look and function.

If you’re a designer yourself, or simply interested in how women’s bags come to life, here is an interview with Jeannie giving some great insights into what goes into the process.

When designing bags for women, what are some of the things you think about first?

I consider the purpose of that collection in the first place. Who will wear those bags? When and where will they be used? How can I make a bag that becomes their favorite and keep our brand image at the same time?

When designing women’s anti-theft bags how important is the look compared with function?

I think they are equally important. I try to make every bag look good and add on different levels of functionality among collections, to fit for different kinds of women.

When building in the function of a bag, what are the top things you’re wanting to achieve for the user?

I want to create bags which are versatile to carry for different occasions (eg go to work, date, or travel). A bag which has several ways to carry, which will be good to fulfill different needs for the user.

How do you think designing a bag for women is different from designing them for men?

Women tend to have more small stuff to carry than men, but they still want their bag to look small and compact. That means capacity, pockets and internal organization all have to be considered, even though it’s a small bag.

What about anti-theft features? How do women think about bag security and what are your main considerations there?

Women also care a lot about bag security. I usually pick anti-theft elements which look less masculine, more lightweight and is easier to use. For example, we have Roobar Style instead of Roobar Deluxe on our Citysafe CX collection.

Anything else you think is important when designing women’s bags?

I think comfort and ease of carrying are also very important. Apart from the look and functionality, customers know they bought the right bag when it is usable.

To check out the #1 selling Citysafe CX anti-theft backpack which Jeannie designed (pictured above), click here.