Bellroy Classic Sling 7L Review

The Bellroy Classic Sling 7L combines functional space and heritage styling that we dig. However, considering its large size, we’re curious how well it’ll work for travel. Should you load this into your travel backpack to explore Paris, or is it better suited for trips around your hometown? Let’s dive in and find out.

External Components

The primary sling material isCanva Weave, a recycled polyester, which has a heritage styling and feels soft to the touch. It’s not the most durable fabric we’ve come across, but it’ll handle the bumps and knocks of travel just fine. That said, it likely isn’t the best choice for camping, as it isn’t that rugged and can only handle rain for a few minutes before the water starts to seep into the materials. Overall, for most uses, it’s holding up well.

At the time of writing, there are Olive (the one we have), Black, Butterscotch, and Tahini colorways. That is a wide variety, so there’s likely something that fits your vibe here.

In classic Bellroy fashion, the bag has leather accents, which we dig. The logo and zipper pulls utilize leather, which is nice-looking and adds a bit of flair to the bag. Bellroy is known for its leather, so you know you’re in good hands here. Plus, it’ll match your Bellroy Travel Wallet.

The main compartment zipper is from OOK, which isn’t a brand we have as much experience with. It’s durable and has worked well in testing, though the teeth are a bit rough when your arm brushes up against them. The other zippers are from YKK, which is our favorite zipper brand. No complaints here!

The strap adjusters are metal and easy to maneuver. They’re durable, look nice, and, with help from the colorways and leather accents, add to the classy appeal this bag evokes.

So, it looks nice, is quite durable, and uses high-quality hardware—but is it comfortable?

Fit Notes

The strap is quite broad, which helps spread the weight from the sling out on your shoulder. There’s no padding or aeration, which would add comfort; sometimes, the strap digs into your shoulders. Still, we find the sling quite comfortable, even when loaded with heavy gear. We only noticed the sling digging in when we wore a very thin shirt, but it was still comfortable enough to wear for a few hours on a bicycle without issue.

The strap attaches to loops on the side of the sling, allowing the strap’s attachment point to slide around and ensuring no snags or harsh angles. This makes it easier to find a comfortable sweet spot, but also makes it harder to have the sling stay put once you find it. Generally, we think this is a positive, and you can easily find a comfortable fit.

The back panel lacks padding and aeration, so things will get warm. While cycling with the bag, it did get sweaty, but since this bag wasn’t designed for cycling, we can’t hold it against it, especially since the heat index was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) when we did this test. Still, the external fabric has some inherent padding, so it’s pretty cozy.

Whatever you put in the back pocket becomes the back panel, so keep that in mind when packing this sling up. A flat item maintains comfort; something oblong-shaped won’t.

Inside The Sling

The back pocket is quite large, so you can stow bigger flat items here without issue. A passport, phone, small paperback, or map will fit inside. There’s no organization, but we didn’t expect there to be. It is a solid place to stow sensitive items, as it rests on your body when you wear the sling. This is the only secondary compartment, so keep that in mind while packing!

The main compartment is massive and holds most of this sling’s capacity, so there’s a lot of room for gear storage here.

On the back side, a liner pocket holds a small tablet, phone, wallet, or other similarly sized items. There’s no topper, so items could, in theory, come tumbling out, though we haven’t had that issue in testing.

The front side has a smaller zippered pocket crafted from mesh, which we used to stow smaller gear. As mentioned, there’s just one secondary compartment and a huge main compartment, so this is the only logical place to stow our small gadgets. Headphones, dongles, wall chargers, and other small gear work well here. The mesh allows you to fit multiple smaller pieces of gear here, or a few larger items, which is handy.

The rest of the space is free real estate, and there’s a lot of it. We could fit a Nintendo Switch, over-ear headphones, and a small compact camera here with some room to spare. There’s nothing to get in your way other than the organization we’ve already gone over and a key leash, so the world is your oyster. The leash is pretty long, so you can open conveniently placed locks without removing your keys, which is ideal.

The sling has gussets on either side that fold in, so the bag self-compresses when you don’t have as much gear stowed here. This is also ideal when you transport the bag empty for a trip inside your daypack or travel backpack, making it easier to fold the bag. Generally, the bag looks and wears nicely if you have it at least 1/3 of the way full, which isn’t hard to do with the gear you’d typically stow inside your pockets.

Overall, we love the look and feel of this sling and adore how much gear we can store inside it. It isn’t packable or super small, which may deter some from using it for travel, but we feel that it’s a perfect sling to unload from your rolling luggage once you’ve arrived to explore the city, to take day trips across town, and to peruse the local artists’ market. Plus, you’ll look fashionable wherever you go!