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01The clip that keeps the straps where you put them

abshoo Backpacks with a Chest Strap

Five bags with an adjustable chest strap across the front, from a 13-inch toddler pack to a 16.5-inch elementary bookbag.

  • 5 bags
  • 10 colourways
  • 16"–16.5" height run
  • $19.99–$35.99 at our last update

Colourways on this page: Black, Pink, Dinosaur, Space, Mermaid, Rainbow, Excavator, Strawberry, and 2 more.

A chest strap is a webbing band with a side-release clip that runs between the two shoulder straps, and on a child it does one job better than anything else on a bag: it stops the straps walking outwards. Narrow shoulders slope, a loaded pack pulls back and out, and within a hundred yards a bag with no chest strap is hanging off one arm. The clip holds the two straps in the position you adjusted them to, which is the position that puts the weight on the shoulders instead of the elbows.

Both of the professional bodies this site quotes ask for one by name. The paediatric guidance lists a waist belt or chest strap among the things to look for, on the grounds that it redistributes the load across the body; the orthopaedic guidance asks for a waist strap whenever the load is heavy. Neither of them says a strap makes a heavy bag safe, and neither do we. The strap is worth having on the day the bag is full, and on the days it is not, it is a clip nobody does up.

Every colourway here is priced on its own; the abshoo collection keeps the figures current and the till is what decides.

02About these bags

Questions about abshoo Backpacks with a Chest Strap

The clip that keeps the straps where you put them

What does the chest strap on your abshoo backpack do?

It holds the two shoulder straps in place across the chest so they cannot slide off the shoulders. On a small or narrow-shouldered child that is the difference between a bag carried on two shoulders and a bag carried on one, and it is the reason both the paediatric and the orthopaedic guidance list it as a feature to look for.

Can you adjust the abshoo chest strap as a child grows?

Yes, in two directions. The webbing runs through a slider so the strap gets longer or shorter across the chest, and on these packs the clip also moves up and down the shoulder strap so it can sit below the collarbone rather than across the throat. Set it once a term.

Do the bigger abshoo school bags give you a chest strap?

Mostly not, and that is a deliberate line rather than an oversight. Chest straps live on the kids' shelf here, up to 16.5 inches; the middle and high-school bookbags are carried by people whose shoulders keep a strap on their own. If you want one on a larger bag, the 16.5-inch elementary pack is the biggest bag on the site that has one.

03Nearby

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Every abshoo height, every colour

Every size, print and colourway in the abshoo catalogue sits behind this button, with the price from our last update against each one.