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Listen, we can dance around what to call the fanny pack—a.k.a., the sling bag, crossbody bag, bum bag, shoulder bag, etc. But let’s not kid ourselves about what it is. Even the best men's fanny packs are, simply, fanny packs. And they're useful as hell.
Once shorthand for a whole era of ill-advised style decisions, the fanny pack has re-emerged into our good graces, a product of menswear’s gorpy overhaul and the realization that there are many funkier, weirder, wilder ways to dress (or carry a bag) than a buckle-on pocket in 2023.
The Best Fanny Packs Shopping Guide
- The Best Throwback Fanny Pack: Nike tech hip pack, $47
- The Best High-Flying Fanny Pack: Prada re-nylon belt bag, $1,490
- The Best Budget Fanny Pack: Herschel fanny bag, $32
- The Best On-the-Go Fanny Pack: Lululemon belt bag, $38
- The Best Outdoors-Ready Fanny Pack: 1733 side pack, $180
- The Best Office-Appropriate Fanny Pack: Mulberry full-grain leather belt bag, $655
Its selling point is fairly obvious: the fanny pack is functional and versatile. When a backpack is too sweaty and a shoulder bag of some sort cramps your [pharmaceutical ad voiceover] active lifestyle, the fanny pack steps in to store all your necessities: keys, Chapstick, sunglasses, hand sanitizer, AirPods, backup AirPods, and more. Wear one around your waist like a dad trying to puzzle out where the visitor’s center is on a large map, or sling it over your body in, like, 13 other ways. Any of them beat praying that the tote bag you haphazardly hung on the edge of your bike’s handlebars won’t jam itself into the spokes mid-cruise. (We may or may not be speaking from experience here.)
Point is, the fanny pack is back, though it never left and it does not need your forgiveness. It just wants to serve you, ably and effectively. Like the humble fanny pack, we also strive to be useful here at GQ Recommends, so we turned up 23 of the best men’s fanny packs on the market. You can still grab the durable nylon joints that define the genre, but these days there's plenty of elegant alternatives stitched from full-grain leather or top-shelf canvas. Your waist deserves so much better—treat it accordingly.
The Best Throwback Fanny Pack
Nike's all-killer, no-filler fanny pack is just trying to do its job, ma’am. Its main pocket is spacious but not a black hole, and we appreciate the subtle blacked-out Swoosh, particularly in a sea of fanny packs that like to scream loudly. Think of it as the equivalent of the team captain who leads by example: it gives off a real “first guy into the gym, last guy out” energy—even if your favorite sport is jostling your way through a crowded Whole Foods on a Sunday afternoon.
The Best Museum-Worthy Fanny Pack
Prada's history of elevating mundane materials—and nylon, in particular—to the realm of high fashion goes back a long time. In the late '90s, the Italian brand launched Prada Sport, a then-groundbreaking line of casual-leaning sportswear that presaged the rise of athleisure [shudders quietly] by well over a decade. The brand's sportier offerings, like this soft-sheen belt bag, remain a hallmark of modern design, particularly for diehard Prada stans who prefer the brand’s simpler stuff over its more look-at-me printed pieces. (Don't worry, that legendary enamel triangle logo is there!)
The Best Budget Fanny Pack
Unsurprisingly, the brand that does quality baggage at a "wait, that's all?" price also makes a no-frills, deeply affordable fanny pack. Herschel's might not come with all the flashy bells and whistles some of its counterparts do, but when it looks this good who really cares? A tumbled gray colorway and hints of black by the strap ensures not a single menswear-loving soul—at the airport, drugstore, or anywhere else you avail yourself of its pocket space—will have a waist as tastefully decorated as yours.
The Best Fanny Pack for the Man on the Move
Not too long ago, Lululemon gave the fanny pack the Lululemon treatment, stripping the bag down to its essential elements and leaving nothing but streamlined design in its wake. Made out of sweat-wicking Lycra that looks like it should cost a lot more than it does, this is the fanny pack you buy if you worship at the altar of near-logoless practicality—and that's doubly true if you're an especially cost-conscious believer.
The Best "Protect Your Stuff At All Costs" Fanny Pack
1733's ridiculously durable, USA-made bag is the fanny pack for your wildest outdoor adventures–or abnormally wet morning commutes. Constructed from water-resistant nylon designed to take more beatings than Rocky, it boasts a hefty interior pocket big enough to comfortably house your nicknacks—along with plenty of extra storage space for easy access to the stuff you don't want to get lost in your backpack. It's not cheap, exactly, but when you think about how much time and effort it takes to resuscitate a waterlogged iPhone the sub-$200 ticket price doesn't feel fair—it feels downright criminal.
The Best Office-Appropriate Fanny Pack
Hear us out: you can 100% get away with wearing a fanny pack to the office…provided it doesn't look like it's been dragged through the mud (literally and figuratively). Which is precisely where Mulberry's structured belt bag comes into play. Crafted from the kind of handsome full-grain leather typically reserved for your brogues, it's an open-layout friendly bag spacious enough to store the necessities of corporate life (who needs a laptop anyway?!) all secured with the brand's legendary Postman's Lock. Most important, though, it's sleek and won't cave in, leaving your precious items safe—and your pristine office fits looking that way.
