The Best Backpacks for College and High School Students

If you’d like a pack that fits all your gym gear: The San Francisco–based brand Aer makes excellent gym-ready backpacks that we recommend in our guide to laptop backpacks. We especially like the 19-liter Aer Fit Pack 3 and the 21-liter Aer Duffel Pack 3 for their combination of comfort, quality materials, and cool, vaguely futuristic design. At around $150 and $180, respectively, these Aer packs are more expensive than other bags we recommend for college and high school students, but if you can swing it, these backpacks are built to last and backed by Aer’s lifetime warranty. Both bags feature an ultra-durable Cordura ballistic-nylon exterior, YKK zippers, Duraflex plastic hardware, and an interior liner treated with an antimicrobial coating to ward off icky bacterial growth from sweaty gear. Other features include a ventilated shoe compartment, a luggage pass-through, padded mesh shoulder straps and a padded back panel, and a sternum strap.