For decades in our industry, the term “hobo” has been used to describe an unstructured shoulder bag made from a flexible material with a single strap. However, the origin of this word is too often overlooked. This name alludes to the issue of homelessness — it is derived from the bag’s resemblance to the shape of the bindle on a stick that homeless individuals are portrayed as carrying in drawings and cartoons. It is time to stop using this term.
For Cuyana, COVID-19 has been a clarifying moment: an opportunity to pause and re-examine our practices. When we originally launched our Oversized Double Loop Bag, we called it the Oversized Hobo. We recognize now that this was a mistake. When approaching the launch of a new bag — a smaller version of the same design — it was clear that we had not closely examined how and why we were using the traditional name for this type of product. Our past use of this name felt even more problematic given we sit in Cuyana’s hometown of San Francisco, where the number of people experiencing homelessless is increasing every year. And both at home and around the world, homelessness has only been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This community deserves dignity, and unkind names and stereotypes are not productive in helping this cause. Therefore, we are discontinuing the use of this outdated and pejorative term and renaming our collection, “The Double Loop Collection,” to reflect their shared signature design detail.
We believe that our company and our industry can do better. Together, we would like to show greater respect and care for individuals facing homelessness by dropping the term “hobo” from our terminology all together. While we recognize this change alone will not solve the issue of homelessness, we believe that the first step towards real change is understanding and empathy. We believe in the power of words to create a kinder world, and our hope is that others will join us in removing this term from their lexicon.
Sincerely,
Karla & Shilpa
Our mission over nearly a decade has been to celebrate and serve women. Currently, women are disproportionately bearing the brunt of homelessness. We are making a donation to St. Anthony’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting those without homes.
