What is a Hobo Bag?
The hobo bag is a handbag or purse carried over the shoulder with a single strap. The shape of these bags is typically crescent, and smaller bags may look like half moons. Larger bags vaguely follow the crescent shape but it may not be quite so noticeable. One feature of the hobo bag is that materials used to make the bag are usually soft and don’t retain their shape when you set the bag down. The word hobo likely evolved in the mid-19th century and referred to many people who were generally homeless and traveled from place to place by way of railroad cars. During and after the depression, the hobo population in the US grew significantly. It’s interesting that early advertisements for hobo bags appear about ten years after the stock market crash, and since then these bags have never gone out of style. When designer purses became the rage in the 1950s, many designers made variants of the hobo bag. A larger hobo bag can be ideal for carrying tons of stuff. In addition to being fashionabl
