I have bought 3 of these bags in the past few years and planning on purchasing a few more. My youngest will be using the bag her sister used for the last two years, and it still looks new! They like to swap and switch each year. The price is fantastic and they really do last forever.
I bought this backpack four years ago for my daughter to use in Kindergarten. She is now entering 4th grade and has moved onto the Deluxe Backpack, however the original one has been passed onto my neice and it's still perfect. With a good washing, it's ready for another (5th) school year. Awesome product!
The backpack needs a water bottle holder and an extra pocket for books. Basically the Original Plus design was perfect, but they discontinued it (WHY?!?!) and we are stuck getting this style for our younger son. The Deluxe plus would be a good alternative for older students, but all of the "Deluxe" styles are too big for a kindergartener, and they all have annoying straps meant to go around the child's waist, which is comical...my children barely tie their shoes, they certainly don't take time to buckle themselves into their backpack, so all those straps do is drag on the ground, hang out of the car door, and get caught in doors of their locker cabinets.
Great back pack, I just wish that there was a font choice, like Comic Sands, that writes the lowercase "a" as elementary students are taught to write it. I'm a teacher, and often hear, "why does that "a" look like an upside g?" Both fonts offered in lower case have only this type of "a", so we'll be taking my son's backpack to our local print shop to have his name engraved with the Comic Sands font. Thanks for considering adding this font choice L.L.Bean. Your customer service is top notch, so I know it will be looked into:) My fellow colleagues and I thank you!
