Backpack designed for hygiene conscious travel in Covid-19 age

RiutBag+ includes mask holder, hand sanitiser attachment and disinfectable, wipe-clean surfaces throughout

RiutBag+

In the world we now live in, the only certainty is uncertainty, innovation and creative solutions are surfacing everywhere. I’ve been using a product that was born out of the pandemic to meet a problem we’ve never had to face before. The RiutBag+ backpack was designed for hygiene conscious travel.

This secure 20-litre laptop bag is a response to today’s everyday challenges with a mask holder, hand sanitiser attachment and disinfectable, wipe-clean surfaces throughout.

Design

The RiutBag is unlike any other backpack that is rarely washed or cleaned. This is partly because there’s generally no need and secondly because you’d have to put it into a washing machine and wait a couple of days for it to dry. 

Thanks to its wipeable surfaces throughout, the RiutBag+ can be cleaned in seconds, allowing users to rapidly eliminate traces of bacteria and viruses, alleviating wearer fears and minimizing contamination at work and at home.

The backpack's unique futuristic aesthetic and sanitisable surfaces extend all the way down to the straps and handles, thanks to tarpaulin and ripstop PVC materials. The straps' mask holder keeps masks from getting lost. There’s a clip for a mask on each strap and I found it handy for all sorts of other things as well as masks.

The backpack holds up to a 15-inch laptop and has a capacity of 20 litres. I was able to easily store a 15.6-inch laptop and a 12.9-inch iPad all in the front while still having tons of room for lots more of my tech gear and other essentials. This is thanks to a double tech holder is which can safely be stowed inside the double zipped pocket.

Dr Velasco, who was working in COVID positive wards in the height of the pandemic, contacted award-winning backpack designer Sarah Giblin for inspiration for the easy-to-clean RiutBag+. 

He was unable to bring his regular backpack into the hospital due to new Covid restrictions because it could not be disinfected, so he was carrying his laptop and stethoscope in a plastic bag. He asked whether she might assist him. 

During the lockdown in Manchester, Giblin immediately began work on a prototype bag for the doctor and any hygiene-conscious travellers to utilise once the lockdown was lifted. 

A qualified nurse and seasoned traveller, Mike Huxley said: “I’ve never seen anything like it: a backpack that is secure and tackles surface contamination. Safety is covered every way you look at it.”

Anti-theft

Giblin’s travel designs first hit the headlines in 2015 for their simple and effective theft-proof “backwards” design. The secure laptop backpacks have zips cleverly hidden on the back panel so no one else can get in.

The new RiutBag+, inspired in part by paramedics’ wipe-clean medic bags, combines Giblin’s secure design with a re-engineered minimalist, smooth surfaces which are easy and quick to disinfect.

Giblin adds: “My first backpack designs helped reduce fear of theft and actual theft with my trademark backwards design. With the onset of the Pandemic, I saw it as my job to rethink the backpack again to help healthcare workers, scientists, and all hygiene-conscious people to keep travelling with a backpack, even through a pandemic where surface hygiene matters.”

Availability

The RiutBag+ is available now at Riut for €150 (£129).