The Upshot

In the land of kid backpacks, the Fjallraven Kanken Mini bag stands alone as the rare product that can take the incredible abuse a small human incurs, with nary a scratch. We’ve been down the road of buying a p.o.s. Brand X backpack for our children and don’t recommend it.

“Look!” you might say, “It’s only $11!” This is your cue to put down the piece of shit and pony up for something that will last longer than 3 months. Enter the Kanken Mini. It may be $70 but I would strongly recommend it to anyone with kids. Check out our full review below.

Jump to full review…

The FuLL REVIEW

Here we’ll dive into the features and benefits, some stories from the road and a bit of analysis on why it’s not nuts to shell out seventy bones for a mini Kanken bag.

Mini Kanken Bag Features

Reflective Logo

Your kids are tiny, so walking around with a large, reflective patch on their backpack is great for visibility – especially with cars. On a side note, that logo has a feel-good story behind it.

I used to wonder if it was a seahorse, or dragon or some kind of Nordic Viking legend. Nay, it is a curled-up Arctic fox. Like the cuddly kind that Fjallraven supports in their philanthropy.

Removable Back Pad

On the inner backside of the Kanken Mini, a foam pad sits within a pouch. It’s there for comfort but can also be removed easily for cleaning purposes. This is fortuitous for when you use the wee Kanken as a barf bag for your 5-year-old.

Not that we ever did that – on an airport shuttle with a motion-sickened child – but if you DID, know that this bag is VERY easy to clean.

Extra Pockets

Aside from the main bag itself, there is a zippered pocket on the front and an open pocket running the length of one side. Both are great for little kid stuff like crayons, small water bottles, stuffed animals and the like.

The main portion of the bag about the size of a tablet and deep enough to hold 4 or 5 kid-sized books.

Carrying Clasp

A clasp can be buttoned across the top handles to create an easy to carry mini bag. This comes in handy for when your little humans no longer want to wear it – which is always. Now, adults can actually wear the Kanken Mini as a backpack but we have three children and they tend to revolt as a group – the little anarchists.

Which means I would be faced with the prospect of wearing three at a time. Instead, when out and about, I would clasp all three bags to my own backpack. Since they’re such little bags, it doesn’t add much weight and frankly, I wouldn’t mind if they were filled with cinder blocks as long as the whining stopped.

Hardwearing Vinylon F Material

This magic material, Vinylon F, is what Fjallraven is known for – and for good reason. Unlike a typical, cheapo backpack, your kid is not going to rip this fabric unless they get out a pair of scissors.

And when this synthetic fiber gets damp, it swells to make the weave even tighter – allowing it to resist water very effectively. Point being, the backpack is extremely durable which is much of the reason, after 5 years of wear and tear, there’s very little visual wear and definitely not a single tear. #ImSuchAPoet

Lost and Found Label

Inside the mini Kanken, a dedicated blank label is sewn into the backing with lines for name, address and phone number. While it was likely designed for lost and found functionality, it’s quite useful for when your kids fight with each other about which one is theirs.

Fortunately, these bags come in a huge array of colors but if you’ve made the fatal error of buying the SAME COLOR for multiple kids, this label will set them straight. Or at least you can hope it will.

Dimensions: 11” high x 8 wide x 5” deep

At only 11” in height, it’s called the Mini for good reason. Big it ain’t. But its just the right size for kiddos to handle on their own which is helpful. It’s not going to hold 32 textbooks but it’s GREAT for field trips and weekend adventures.

You can roll up a small towel and bathing suit in there, some sunscreen and a water bottle for a day of water fun. Snacks will easily fit in the outer, front pocket that measures 6” wide x 5” high and your kids’ stuffed giraffe will happily tag along in the 3” wide x 6” high side pocket.

Things We Like About This Fjallraven Backpack

Life Proofiness

Colbert coined “truthiness” and I shall coin “proofiness.” If your kid can’t destroy something, no one can. Ever buy a cheap backpack from Big Box Store X? Only to see rips, tears and holes in under 30 days? It’s immensely irritating. That doesn’t happen with The Kanken Mini size, its life proof.

All three of our kids received one as a gift one Easter from their grandfather. We then moved to Europe for a few years and travelled about with them. The bags were the children’s go-everywhere bag. These bags travelled all over the world and aside from looking well worn, they are good as new.

That’s really saying something considering that one time we were on an airport shuttle, in the middle-of-nowhere Canary Islands…

Daughter 1 suddenly displayed the I’m Going To Barf Face, which isn’t unusual as she is prone to motion sickness.

Father (me) frantically looked around for a container and settled on Daughter 2’s Fjallraven Kanken Mini. After flipping it over to dump all contents out – and notifying my better half to distract the owner of said backpack – I set it up around Daughter 1’s mouth in the oat-bag-fashion used by horses.

Post evacuation, I was VERY happy to note that not only did this jack-of-all-trades bag stay nice and watertight, it cleaned up so well that it doesn’t even smell.

Later that night, we – that is to say, my wife – removed the foam insert and scrubbed the filth away. I don’t believe Daughter 2 is even aware this ever happened.

Quality Construction

Sort of a follow on to the Kanken’s ability to withstand any beatings issued upon it by its small owners, is their robust craftsmanship. The straps are sewn so well, I’d be hard pressed to rip one off – I did try. The zippers – a common failure point for any kid’s item – are all still working on all three bags.

All the buttons and clasps are still in place and did I mention not a single hole or tear? This kind of durability and craftsmanship is unusual in a product used regularly by kids which is why its so easy to recommend.

Water Resistance

Thanks to the above mentioned Vinylon F fabric used to create this mini Kanken bag, it doesn’t get soggy when wet. Like when your kid “forgets” to tighten the water bottle lid AND puts it in upside down. Or when it’s stuffed with a wet bathing suit.

The bag will certainly be wet but it’s not dripping liquid the way we’ve experienced with bags of cheaper construction. This is especially nice for avoiding puddles in unfortunate locations – like your car seat, or your bed.

Not Just For Kids

That’s right adults! You can extend the straps long enough to make this little kid backpack fit an adult-sized back! Yes, you will look very silly but it is convenient and when you’re in the middle of this game that is Parenting, fashionable goes right out the window in favor of functional.

Alternatively, you can just button the top clasp and carry your Kanken mini like a handbag. What I’m saying is that these bags are very easy, in fact designed, to be toted about by the children’s handlers.

Things We Would Change About This Kanken Bag

Limited Flexibility

The flipside to the rugged, water resistant fabric used on these backpacks is that they don’t offer much in the way of flex or expansion. This is good and bad.

Good because you can’t overstuff the thing and exhaust your kids’ shoulders. Bad because you’re the one that ends up carrying the extra stuff that won’t squeeze into Junior’s sack.

Not Inexpensive

The Kanken Mini is $70 on Fjallraven’s website which seems pricey for such a relatively small bag. Not everyone is going to be ready to drop that kind of coin on a product for a 5-year-old. In fact, I’m usually the first to question spending this kind of money on a young one when I’m expecting them to grow out of it in 6 months.

The reality is, that kid will probably still have the backpack when they’re 50, so you’ll definitely get your money out of it.

How Much Does a Fjallraven Kanken Mini Backpack Cost?

The mini Kanken bag will set you back $70 direct from the Fjallraven site. The good news is you get to choose from a whopping 59 colors with odd names like Royal Blue Flamingo Pink and Ox Red Goose Eye.

Per their website, returns are accepted within 30 days of the delivery date as long as the bag is unused and in brand new condition with the tags still affixed.

Who Is Fjallraven?

Fjallraven is the kind of company that you want work for after browsing their website. Some highlights:

• Started in 1960 by Ake Nordin, on Sweden’s High Coast, in the pursuit of creating a better backpack and making nature accessible to more people.
• Since then, jackets, trousers, tents and more have been added all in the name of enjoying the outdoors with quality gear.
• In 2005, they launched the Fjallraven Classic: a 110-kilometer trek through Northern Sweden which has now expanded globally.
• Fjallraven also places a focus on sustainability in design, materials and production as well as supporting the Arctic Fox Initiative. Fun fact: Fjallraven is Swedish for Arctic Fox.

Alternatives

Lands’ End

A decent alternative we found is the traditional kid backpack from Lands’ End. Its quite a bit cheaper at $40 but also quite a big larger at 17” high x 12” wide x 7” deep. Obviously, it holds more stuff which also makes it easy to overload and strain your kids’ back.

We’ve had these for about a year and they’re in good shape. They haven’t travelled the world and been barfed in, but give it time.

Target Brand X

A terrible alternative is the brandless blob from Target that we got many years ago. For around $15, you can pick one up. It’s long since been rendered useless – and subsequently dumpstered – via kid’s abusing them so I don’t have a picture to go along with this.

I realize that everyone has different price sensitivity, but you may as well flush your fifteen bucks down the toilet as that’s about how much these bags are worth. Ours were torn and unusable in just a couple months of use.

Final Notes on the Fjallraven Kanken Mini

This backpack is such a good product it has us looking to see what else we can outfit ourselves in from this Swedish company. It’s the kind of gear that you pay more for upfront but in exchange get to use for life, if not pass it down to your kids.

Basically, we can’t say enough good things about the mini Kanken and would strongly recommend it to any parent in need of a solid children’s backpack.

Where to Buy

You can find the Kanken Mini backpack on Fjallraven’s website for $70.