Galactic Style Guide – Duffel Bags

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! While the Galactic Starcruiser may no longer be taking on passengers and has instead been gathering dust for the last year, there’s never a bad time to do a little research and try to improve your ‘Star Wars eye’. Following up on our last entry, this month we’re looking at a specific type of soft, in-universe luggage, duffel bags!
Just a quick FYI/programming note before we begin: this entry is fairly quick and dirty, but there’s a good reason: my wife and I bought a house last month, and real life takes priority over hobbies, naturally! We’ve made lots of progress, but we’re still knee-deep in renovations and expect to be well into the New Year, but hopefully things go smoothly and I can get back to more regular and in-depth posting before too long. With that said, let’s get started!

Dark Horse’s Republic #80 (2005) with art by Doug Wheatley features padawan Noirah Na in the aftermath of Order 66, lugging around a large duffel bag as a backpack. Plus, for those following along after our last entry, a suitcase! What d’you know: it checks all of our boxes (interesting shape, logo and text free, muted color, and pre-Rollaboard design)!

The Baron Fel-focused issue Rogue Squadron #25 (1997) shows a recruit and cadet with duffel bags, this time with a two-tone color scheme:

By the Emperor’s Hand (1998-99) sees Mara Jade slinging what looks like a duffel and snapsack over her shoulder; her whole ensemble coordinates very well!

In Rebellion #11 (2008), we see two examples of duffel bags, including one carried by Deena Shan; in hindsight, based on the size and zippered top closures, I’d say they’re a lot closer to gym bags than true military-size duffel bags.

In the Shadow of Yavin (2013) features the new Rebel recruit Prithi, who joins Luke and Leia’s squadron carrying a hefty militaristic duffel with a large top flap, a securing buckle, three skinny pockets, and a padded shoulder strap. I note that like the examples from Republic and Rogue Squadron, this one also has a pair of integrated straps perpendicular to the main body – a feature of military issued packs?

Finally, speaking of the Alliance, we see Wedge Antilles in one of the Rogue Squadron comics (I forget which one, sorry!) toting a large duffel into or out of his X-wing’s cargo bay. It’s interesting that this is the only time we see a duffel bearing any kind of insignia, presumably this one is Alliance-issued? It’s also interesting that it’s only in this comic run that the other two-tone bag was seen. And again, note the perpendicular strapping.

Unfortunately, those are the only examples I’ve managed to come across in my readings! It also doesn’t help that the read-comics-online sites I’ve been using for years are all apparently now defunct (thanks Marvel!). If you know of any other examples of duffel bags you’ve seen (there’s gotta be some in the background on Andor), leave a comment below and let me know, or come discuss with us at the SWLH community on facebook! If nothing else, this post has helped remind me that my own space-tramp’s duffel bag project is still hanging in the back of my closet, and it might be time to re-survey the state of custom embroidery on Etsy and see if anyone has started offering planet-specific patches these days. Thanks for reading, and see you in 2025!

Researching, writing, and compiling articles like this takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading or got some ideas for your own in-universe duffel bag from this post, please consider supporting my work via ko-fi, or with a small donation below! Thank you!