Front shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Santa Cruz (electric purple).  Profile shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Santa Cruz (electric purple).  Top-down shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Santa Cruz (electric purple).  Front shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Natural (cotton white).  Top-down shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Natural (cotton white).  Profile shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Natural (cotton white).  Front shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Talus (charcoal grey).  Top-down shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Talus (charcoal grey).  Profile shot of the Organic Cotton Truck in Talus (charcoal grey).
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$80.00


Color: Santa Cruz 12oz Organic Cotton

In Stock

Available Color options

Our classic Truck tote made with Organic Cotton that's grown, woven, dyed, and finished in the United States.

25 liters / 1525 cu. in.

TLDR

A twist on our classic Truck tote. It's made with Organic Cotton that's grown in Texas, woven in small mills in North and South Carolina, and finished in North Carolina. And, of course, it's handcrafted right here at our Seattle factory.

Full Description

U.S.A. Organic Cotton

The Texas Organic Cotton Cooperative, through whom we sourced the material, has high standards for environmental impact as well as quality, and it truly shows.

The hand of this cotton is the perfect balance between structured and soft: the Organic Cotton Truck stands up on its own so it's still easy to load, yet has a just-right amount of softness and slouch that makes it soft and comfortable in-hand and against the body. 

The three colors that we had custom-produced and dyed (or left undyed) just for us include:

Santa Cruz is a purple with shadows of electric blue. It's inspired by the TOM BIHN logo t-shirts and sweatshirts of the 80's and early 90's, back when the TOM BIHN company was a one-man shop in Santa Cruz, California. 

Talus could be described as a pastel black or a dark grey. It reminds us of a perfectly weathered and worn t-shirt. 

Natural is truly au naturel: an undyed, warm off-white with flecks of darker and lighter yarns throughout. This color truly lets the character of the cotton shine through. If you choose to go au naturel, realize that you will be embracing the character that could come over time with life, stains, age, and wear. We've been using a sample Truck in Natural for the past eight months at farmer's markets around town: the bottom shows some darker coloration from being set on the asphalt or dirt ground, though the rest of the bag still looks new except for an incident with a beet. We personally embrace this: it shows the bag is used, loved, and is all the better for it. 

Cotton canvas was the go-to fabric for bags and backpacks for decades prior to the introduction of nylon fabrics by the military in the early 1940s. Though synthetics fabrics are definitely longer lived materials (sometimes to the detriment of the environment), cotton has a certain aesthetic charm unmatched by synthetic materials. 

Expect the wear, age and lifespan of cotton to be different than that of ballistic nylon. Of course, by no means is a TOM BIHN tote bag made of cotton a single-use, disposable product: you can still expect years and years of use from it, though perhaps not decades. 

Left to right: Santa Cruz, Natural, and Talus Organic Cotton colors

 

Stands Up & Easy To Load

The Organic Cotton Truck features a large, squarish center space that’s perfect for gallon jugs of water or milk. Open-top pockets are situated front and back—for your shopping list, of course, but they'd easily hold a book or an iPad. We made the pockets big enough to accommodate folded brown paper grocery bags, too, which are handy to have if you need the overflow capacity. The side compartments are huge and can handle quarts/liters of milk or a pair of running shoes.

A plastic stiffener in the center compartment adds stability to the load; you can fold the bag loosely around the hard bottom when necessary.

Organic Cotton Truck in Talus standing upright: it's fully packed with various camping gear.

 

Comfortable Padded Handles

Like our other carryall tote bags, the Truck has über-comfortable Poron® padded handles.

Person holding the handles of the Organic Cotton Truck in Santa Cruz.

 

Moon Label

The Moon label revisitation of a label Tom used briefly back in the mid-1990s.

Close-up of the Moon label on the Santa Cruz electric purple Organic Cotton Truck

Two Exterior Pockets

Open-top pockets are situated front and back—for your shopping list, of course, but they'd easily hold a book or an iPad. 

An Organic Cotton Truck in Natural with a book in the front open-top pocket.

 

The Texas Organic Cotton Cooperative, through whom we sourced the material, has high standards for environmental impact as well as quality, and it truly shows.

The hand of this cotton is the perfect balance between structured and soft: the Organic Cotton Truck stands up on its own so it's still easy to load, yet has a just-right amount of softness and slouch that makes it soft and comfortable in-hand and against the body. 

The three colors that we had custom-produced and dyed (or left undyed) just for us include:

Santa Cruz is a purple with shadows of electric blue. It's inspired by the TOM BIHN logo t-shirts and sweatshirts of the 80's and early 90's, back when the TOM BIHN company was a one-man shop in Santa Cruz, California. 

Talus could be described as a pastel black or a dark grey. It reminds us of a perfectly weathered and worn t-shirt. 

Natural is truly au naturel: an undyed, warm off-white with flecks of darker and lighter yarns throughout. This color truly lets the character of the cotton shine through. If you choose to go au naturel, realize that you will be embracing the character that could come over time with life, stains, age, and wear. We've been using a sample Truck in Natural for the past eight months at farmer's markets around town: the bottom shows some darker coloration from being set on the asphalt or dirt ground, though the rest of the bag still looks new except for an incident with a beet. We personally embrace this: it shows the bag is used, loved, and is all the better for it. 

Cotton canvas was the go-to fabric for bags and backpacks for decades prior to the introduction of nylon fabrics by the military in the early 1940s. Though synthetics fabrics are definitely longer lived materials (sometimes to the detriment of the environment), cotton has a certain aesthetic charm unmatched by synthetic materials. 

Expect the wear, age and lifespan of cotton to be different than that of ballistic nylon. Of course, by no means is a TOM BIHN tote bag made of cotton a single-use, disposable product: you can still expect years and years of use from it, though perhaps not decades. 

Left to right: Santa Cruz, Natural, and Talus Organic Cotton colors

 

The Organic Cotton Truck features a large, squarish center space that’s perfect for gallon jugs of water or milk. Open-top pockets are situated front and back—for your shopping list, of course, but they'd easily hold a book or an iPad. We made the pockets big enough to accommodate folded brown paper grocery bags, too, which are handy to have if you need the overflow capacity. The side compartments are huge and can handle quarts/liters of milk or a pair of running shoes.

A plastic stiffener in the center compartment adds stability to the load; you can fold the bag loosely around the hard bottom when necessary.

Organic Cotton Truck in Talus standing upright: it's fully packed with various camping gear.

 

Like our other carryall tote bags, the Truck has über-comfortable Poron® padded handles.

Person holding the handles of the Organic Cotton Truck in Santa Cruz.

 

The Moon label revisitation of a label Tom used briefly back in the mid-1990s.

Close-up of the Moon label on the Santa Cruz electric purple Organic Cotton Truck

Open-top pockets are situated front and back—for your shopping list, of course, but they'd easily hold a book or an iPad. 

An Organic Cotton Truck in Natural with a book in the front open-top pocket.

 

Materials

Exterior

12oz Organic Cotton

Handles

PORON® foam handles

Components

Duraflex®, Nexus, and Woojin components

Specs

Dimensions

17.3" (w) x 12.5" (h) x 11.0" (d) / 440 (w) x 320 (h) x 280 (d) mm

Weight

17.1 oz / 485 grams

Volume

25 liters / 1525 cu. in.

Handle Length

22" / 560 mm

Total O-Rings

5 (3 in the main compartment, 1 each in front and back pockets)

4.9
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
Based on 54 reviews
100%would recommend this product
54 reviews
  • Mary H.
    Verified Buyer
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, High Quality Craftsmanship, Unique, Versatile, Durable
    4 days ago
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, High Quality Craftsmanship, Unique, Versatile, Durable
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    More colors like this one, please!

    A photo can't do the color of this bag justice. It's also endlessly useful—just a freaking goldilocks bag. It has enough room to be the bag I carry when I'm out with my 2-year-old for the day or going to the market, but it's not so bulky that it can't function as a regular bag. It has enough organization to keep the payload sane, but not so much that it interferes with using the thing. I would actually just use this for my EDC if it wasn't for the plastic stiffener.

    Back to the color! Does anyone else get envious seeing old colorways in the product photos? Holy moly, I'd go broke on Bihn bags if they all had some options this aesthetically pleasing. What also helps is that, unlike the nylon Trucks, the cotton ones don't have black trim dragging them down. I have a Monster Truck that makes me happy, but it definitely looks like it sprang fully-formed from a car trunk. I was holding back on getting another for my gardening stuff because I just really wanted something that was nice to look at, but then you brought the raspberry colorway into my life, which is pretty enough to overcome the black trim, so that's definitely going to happen.

    Anyway, if you're thinking about getting this bag, you want it. Trust me. Don't wait for the color to disappear on you.

  • Maryann W.
    Verified Buyer
    Bought For Myself
    1 month ago
    Bought For Myself
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    This bag is beautiful.

    Both the color and the texture of this bag are just lovely. I use it for my gym bag and it’s perfect. I find that packing this special bag makes going to the gym more fun, somehow.

  • Judy
    Verified Buyer
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Good Storage Size, High Quality Craftsmanship, Sewn in USA
    1 month ago
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Good Storage Size, High Quality Craftsmanship, Sewn in USA
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    Gorgeous color and the perfect size

    The color is what grabbed me first (I got the Santa Cruz, which is a gorgeous vibrant blurple) but I kept telling myself I didn't need another tote bag. Turns out I did. I'm using it in the car to hold odds and ends like gloves, extra reusable water bottles, first aid kit, extra jacket (just in case), etc. I had an extremely large bag that I was using but it was too big and kept getting in the way in my trunk This size is perfect to fit behind the passenger seat where I can reach it if I need to. Plus (yes, I'm saying it again), the color is gorgeous!

  • Grace C.
    Verified Buyer
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, High Quality Craftsmanship, Durable
    2 months ago
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, High Quality Craftsmanship, Durable
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    Great for weekend car trips

    Great bag for everyday/weekend trip carries. The canvas color is so classic-looking! I use it to carry books, clothes, makeup etc to and from my boyfriend’s for little weekend trips. The only thing I’d like is one zippered section—but for now, I make do by clipping a cubelet to the inside key leash.

  • Matthew W.
    Verified Buyer
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, Comfortable, Great Gift, Good Storage Size, High Quality Craftsmanship
    3 months ago
    Bought For Myself
    Product Standouts Thoughtful Design, Comfortable, Great Gift, Good Storage Size, High Quality Craftsmanship
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    Perfect Toss and Go Bag

    I use this when I want to run to the coffee shop. It’s perfect for tossing a book in and a water bottle. You can fit a lot more in here if you say use it at the grocery store. Love it — might get a second or even a third!

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Sewn in Seattle

Our bags are designed and sewn right here in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

That allows us to be control freaks in the best way possible; we have direct control and oversight of the quality of our materials, our products, and the jobs and working environment that we help create. It also offers us a unique spontaneity: when we have an idea for a new product or accessory, we can design it, figure out how to build it, add it to our website and be ready to ship it out our front door all within just a few weeks. How cool is that?

Intrigued? You can find out more about the unusual way we do business on our Company Philosophy page.

THE BIHN Guarantee

Everything you buy from us here at TOM BIHN is satisfaction guaranteed. We’ve been in business since 1972 and we stand behind what we make.

If something goes wrong and it's our fault, we'll fix it for free. Repairs due to normal wear and tear or due to other things that are not our fault will be performed, when possible, at a reasonable charge right here in our Seattle factory where your bag was made. Defects in materials or workmanship are uncommon and almost always evident while the product is still new. Keep in mind that bags and packs are often subject to extreme wear in everyday use: do not expect them to last forever. Only true love lasts forever! You can expect a TOM BIHN product to give years and years of hard service.

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