Db Journey, Explained by the People Who Stock It
Db started in Norway as Douchebags, a name built for ski-bag fame and terrible for search engines, and grew up into Db Journey: a design house that treats luggage as a system rather than a shelf of separate bags. If you typed the brand's name to get here, you already know the look: clean Scandinavian lines, structured shapes that hold themselves upright, and hardware that clicks. What you probably want from this page is the part the brand's own site is too polite to write: which of the three lines actually fits your life, and what the trade-offs are.
We stock 14 Db models from 6 to 70 litres: the Hugger and Essential backpacks, the Roamer travel duffels, and the Ramverk and Roamer slings. If your taste runs to full-grain leather and meetings, our leather backpacks speak that dialect better; if you want fabric with a past rather than a system, the vintage canvas backpacks are the other end of our shop.
Which Db Line Fits Your Life?
Db organises everything into families, and choosing well means choosing the family first, the litres second. Here is the honest map.
Hugger: the structured city pack
The Hugger is the recognisable one: a boxy, protective silhouette with a full clamshell opening, so the main compartment unzips wide like a suitcase instead of swallowing your gear into a tunnel. The Hugger 20L keeps a tight profile and takes a 13-inch laptop; the 25L and 30L step up to 16-inch sleeves for days that carry gym kit or a spare layer on top of the machine. The trade-off is the flip side of the structure: a Hugger keeps its shape even half-empty, so it never compresses into a small bag.
Essential: light, roll-top, everyday
The Essential line is Db with the volume turned down: roll-top closures, minimal panels, real weight savings. The Essential 12L is the surprise of the range, a compact pack in 900-denier GRS-certified recycled polyester that still swallows a 16-inch laptop; the Essential 24L does a full commute at 0.65 kg in 100 percent recycled polyamide. Between them sits the Daypack 17L, a zipped format with a 16-inch sleeve at 0.72 kg. The trade-off: less padding and structure than a Hugger, which is exactly why they weigh half as much.
Roamer: travel that packs like a suitcase
Roamer is the travel family, and its argument is packing order. The Roamer Duffel 40L and 60L open fully flat, clamshell-style; the Roamer Pro Split 50L and 70L go further and divide the bag into two equal compartments held in shape by aluminium rods, which is as close as a soft bag gets to a suitcase without wheels. All of them carry on the back with proper straps. The trade-off is honest: a structured duffel weighs more than a packable sack, and it earns that weight on the fifth day of a trip, not the first.
Slings, totes and the in-between
Around the big three sit the formats for lighter missions. The Roamer Pro Sling 6L in ripstop nylon carries the phone-wallet-passport layer of life; the Ramverk Pro Sling 24L is the working end of the sling idea, with a padded 16-inch laptop pocket and room for a camera insert on shooting days. The Essential Tote 16L weighs 0.32 kg and holds its shape where most totes fold into themselves, and the Essential Weekender 40L is the two-night bag at 0.64 kg.
The decision rule for the whole range: pick Hugger if your bag must protect and present, Essential if it must weigh nothing, Roamer if it must travel. Litres come after the line, and the day you pack for should be your normal heaviest, never the exceptional one.
Materials, Certifications and the Hook-Up System
Db's fabric story is recycled synthetics with the paperwork attached, and the certificates vary by model rather than by slogan, so we quote them the way the sheets do. The Essential 24L and Ramverk Pro Sling use 100 percent recycled polyamide with dope-dyed recycled linings; the Daypack 17L is 100 percent recycled polyester inside and out; the Hugger 25L and Roamer Duffel 40L list bluesign and GRS credentials; the Roamer Pro Splits add Oeko-Tex 100 with GRS and RCS verification. The Essential 12L brings Db's patented Rib-Cage Construction, the reason a 12-litre bag stands upright when set down.
Then there is the Hook-Up System, the quiet reason Db owners rarely stop at one bag: a standard attachment interface that lets packs clip to duffels and duffels ride on rollers, so a two-bag travel day becomes one object with handles. Most models on this page carry it. No other brand we stock thinks in systems this way, and it changes how the range should be read: you are not buying a bag, you are buying a slot in a set.
From 6 to 70 Litres
Six litres is the sling layer: documents, camera, cables. Twelve to 17 covers the laptop-and-lunch commute at the lowest weight. Twenty to 30 is the Hugger zone, where the machine travels padded and the gym kit fits beside it. Forty litres is the weekend, in duffel or weekender form, and 50 to 70 is proper travel where the Pro Split's two compartments start doing the packing discipline for you. The grid above filters by size; the honest advice is that most people overshoot by one format and pay for it in slack fabric.
Buying Db at Eiken
The warranty question deserves a straight answer, because Db changed its policy and much of the internet has not noticed. Db covers manufacturing defects under the standard legal warranty, and members of the free Db Black programme who were enrolled at the time of purchase get extended cover: 7 years on backpacks and duffels, 10 on rolling luggage, with airline damage excluded. On top of whatever applies, Eiken adds its own 2-year warranty on seams, straps and zips, plus 30 days to return or exchange. Orders ship from France, and our reviews sit unedited on Trustpilot and our reviews page, alongside more than 25,000 orders shipped.
FAQ
Is Db Journey the same brand as Douchebags?
Yes. The company was founded in Norway as Douchebags and rebranded to Db, sometimes written Db Journey, as the range grew beyond ski bags into everyday backpacks and luggage. Same design team, same Hook-Up System, a name you can say at work. Older reviews under the Douchebags name refer to the same brand.
Which Db backpack fits which laptop?
Verified on the product sheets: the Hugger 20L takes a 13-inch machine, while the Hugger 25L and 30L, the Daypack 17L, the Essential Backpack 12L and the Ramverk Pro Sling 24L all carry sleeves for 16-inch laptops. If the laptop is your daily constant, that list is the shortest way to choose.
What is the Hook-Up System?
Db's attachment interface: a standard set of anchor points that lets a backpack clip onto a duffel or roller so two bags move as one. Most models in this collection are compatible. It matters most for travel days, one hand for the luggage, one for the coffee, and it only works within the Db range.
Which Db line should I choose for daily commuting?
Hugger if you want structure and a clean silhouette that protects a laptop in a packed train; Essential or the Daypack 17L if weight matters more than padding. The Hugger 25L is the range's commuter default, and the Essential 24L is the pick when your shoulders vote. Litres come second to that choice.
What warranty do Db bags come with?
Db covers manufacturing defects under the standard legal warranty, and free Db Black members enrolled at purchase get extended cover: 7 years on backpacks and duffels, 10 on luggage, airline damage excluded. Eiken adds a 2-year warranty of its own on seams, straps and zips, and you have 30 days to return or exchange.
Are Db bags made from recycled materials?
Largely, and the sheets name it model by model rather than range-wide: 100 percent recycled polyamide on the Essential 24L and Ramverk Pro Sling, recycled polyester on the Daypack 17L, GRS-certified fabric on the Essential 12L, with bluesign, Oeko-Tex 100 and RCS credentials listed on the Hugger and Roamer models that carry them.
Can a Roamer duffel go as carry-on?
Db does not publish cabin-compliance claims on these sheets and airline limits differ, so check your carrier's dimensions against the size guide on each product page before flying. As a rule of thumb, the 40-litre formats are the ones worth checking; the 50, 60 and 70-litre Roamers are checked-luggage territory.
The rest of the range
The dedicated shelves cut this range by category: Db Journey backpacks for the Hugger and Essential story in detail, and Db Journey slings and shoulder bags for the small formats. Db also appears where it competes: among our commuter backpacks against eight other brands, and in the sustainable backpacks selection where its certificates do the talking. For the long read before choosing, our guides to the best tech backpacks and best laptop backpacks rank Db against the field, machine first.