Bellroy Cinch Minipack Review

When your travels take you to an amusement park, to explore a city, or for a walk in the park, you might not want to carry a large daypack. You could opt for a sling, but if you like carrying gear on both shoulders, you should try a mini backpack. They often have more space than a sling, and potentially more organization, in a comfortable carry style.

Bellroy designed the Cinch Minipack to be lightweight and petite for “maximum joy and in-between organization.” Does it spark joy? Let’s dive into the details and find out.

External Components

Like many Bellroy bags, the Cinch Minipack is made mostly from recycled materials. While some virgin nylon is used, 85% of the bag is recycled nylon, and another 5% is recycled polyester. Bellroy says the materials come from recycled sources such as PET plastic bottles, industrial nylon offcuts, and fishing nets. We like the fabric’s feel, but it doesn’t have a lot of structure. However, you probably aren’t expecting much from a cinch-style bag.

There’s a bit of branding on a tab on the front, along with the Bellroy logo on a snap, so it’s a pretty clean aesthetic in any colorway you choose. We’ve got a special edition colorway, Laguna, that doesn’t seem to be available anymore, but you can get it in a rainbow of colors. The moral of the story is that if you spot a color you want, you might want to snag it before it’s gone, or you might have to find a new favorite.

Along with two snaps on the front flap, there are YKK zippers on a few pockets and cords that cinch the bag closed with plastic toggles. Most of the hardware works well, but we’ve had a few instances when one of the snaps didn’t click properly into place and popped back open.

The harness system is much simpler than you’d see on a traditional backpack, but it’s OK because this bag is smaller. The back panel does feature some padding, but there’s none on the shoulder straps. They are simple adjustable webbing straps with metal adjusters. They’re easier to adjust off your body than when you’re wearing the bag, but they stay in place where you set them. There’s a simple carry handle, as well, made from a folded-over piece of webbing. It’s large enough for most hands and easy to hang on a hook.

Fit Notes

The simple harness system gets the job done, for the most part. The bag is comfortable to carry for hours, because it’s unlikely to get that heavy. Even if you stick a couple of books inside and full bottles in each pocket, there’s only so much space to fill, so it won’t weigh you down. However, the straps can slide off your shoulders as you walk, and the carry can feel unbalanced if you stick a bottle in one pocket without putting something equally weighty in the other.

As for looks, it’s definitely a casual little bag. It’s fine for vacations and tooling around the city or town for a day, though its small footprint looks a little out of place on larger frames. That’s true of pretty much every mini backpack, though, and if it’s a style you want to rock, we’re here for you.

Inside The Mini Backpack

It isn’t a simple cinch bag, though; it has extra organizational features scattered throughout to hold your gear.

The most easily accessible are the two side pockets, since they cinch shut with cords and toggles without hiding under flaps or behind zippers. They’re large enough to hold standard or wide-mouth bottles, depending on what you have inside the main compartment, but they’re also a good spot for a travel umbrella, a small tripod, or—hear us out—your phone. The other exterior pockets are less accessible, so we liked throwing our phone in one side pocket and our sunglasses in the other, then cinching the tops closed to keep them from falling out if the bag tipped. That kept our gear accessible when the sun peeked out or when we needed to send a text, though you still have to take the bag off your shoulders to reach them.

However, to reach the two front compartments, you must unsnap the top flap, an extra step for otherwise-quick-access pockets. One is a large slip pocket with a key leash inside. It’s even large enough for your phone if you want to keep it next to your keys or stow them elsewhere.

On the face of this slip pocket is a zippered pocket for small accessories like earbuds and lip balm, as well as larger items like your phone, passport, and wallet. Gear like that will be pretty secure, since you should feel someone trying to unsnap the flap to get into that pocket while wearing the bag.

The remaining space is in the main compartment, and it’s pretty easy to see since that cinch opens quite widely. Obviously, gear at the bottom of the bag will be harder to spot and grab, so you’ll want to be careful with your packing.

You can put pouches to good use inside here, but there’s also a large zippered pocket against the back panel for locking down small accessories. You could really put your phone and wallet here instead, too, as it’s no slower to access than the front pockets, but that’s up to you.

Overall, what you see is what you get with this petite pack. The mini backpack style is popular with a certain type of traveler, and we think this one does a decent job if that’s the vibe you’re looking for, especially if you need something small that’s easier to stash at your feet on a roller coaster. We wish the front pockets were slightly more accessible, but on the other hand, hopefully they’ll be less of a draw for pick-pockets this way.