Making purses lighter so they won't be a pain in the neck

Shelley White is shopping for a handbag that's stylish but – literally – isn't a pain in the neck. The handbag needs to be lightweight and compact but still roomy enough for her iPhone, twin toddlers' toys, snacks, diapers, lipstick, keys, wallet, even a netbook.

“It's the issue of my back and my neck,” says Ms. White, 37, a TV producer in Toronto. “I find there's some strain. I want something that's going to feel good.”

The shift among women like Ms. White, who have suffered neck and back pain from lugging about chic, oversized handbags, are giving manufacturers and retailers hope for a comeback in sales in a sector pinched by the recession.

The purchase of a new purse was something that could easily be put off, particularly in an economic slump. But smaller and lighter gadgets, such as smart phones and netbooks, and a shift among celebrities such as Victoria Beckham to smaller bags, is giving the purse a new feel.

“Designers are definitely working toward lighter bags, with lighter materials as well as hardware,” says Eileen Lewis, fashion strategy director at Zappos.com, a giant online seller of shoes and bags in Henderson, Nev. “Designers are making bags that are compact, but that carry a lot and have lots of organization.”

New British research highlights the shift. Debenhams PLC has found that the weight of handbags has dropped 57 per cent to 1.5 kilograms over the past two years.

That's with phones, keys, wallets, etc. included.That's roughly the equivalent of two loaves of bread, compared to a peak of 3.5 kg, or the weight of more than three bags of sugar, in 2007.

Debenhams, a department store giant, found that the introduction of multipurpose devices, such as the iPhone and BlackBerry, has helped lower the weight of what's inside a handbag.

“Finally, the burden placed upon working women is falling,” says Sue Tebbitts, handbag buyer at Debenhams.