Reisenthel Carry Bag or Market Tote vs other brands

We often receive questions about the very popular carry bag or Marke Tote by Reisenthel.   It seems everyone is offering something like it, and often far cheaper.  So we wanted to clarify the differences and explain what makes this particular basket so unique.  We bought 4 different bags from various vendors and photographed the same part of each bag, placing the 5 photos side by side.  While many of the images are self-explanatory, we also explain why that particular detail is important.

The green carry bag was much smaller, the other 3 are comparable to Reisenthel’s in size.  The brown Damask one and the green one, collapse flat and then fold in 2 again.  This may appear to be a good thing, but in practice it makes it difficult to open it up and keep it open neatly, it has too many wrinkles and folds to sit nicely when open.

The view from the underside shows that only the zebra one actually looks smooth and straight, and not wobbly and crooked.  All have ‘feet’ but the finish on the bags is different.

Note the green bag doesn’t have welting which also helps keep the bag stable.

The closeup picture of the fabrics shows a few differences and also how the folds don’t disappear as well in some materials.  The zebra print is coated in plastic which makes it thicker, a bit harder to fold down.  The brown damask fabric is a very heavy plastic and would not unfold or sit properly no matter what we tried.  The red and green have a similar weave to the Reisenthel fabric but not as tight.  The weave is important since these bags are meant for everyday use and need to be easy to care for and durable.

The corner detail picture is where some of the major differences become readily apparent.  The Orange, original Reisenthel bag, conforms to the aluminum frame contour and hug it snugly – the bag unfolds into place with little effort.  The other 4 basically do not.  There are gaps and openings, and the differences in both frame and how the fabric attaches to the bag can be seen well.

The way the bag is made at the handle attachment is another important detail.  Note the Reisenthel bag (and the Reisenthel name is stamped on the plastic piece right at the handle join) is neat and smooth.  The element that keeps the bags straight, the ‘sticks’ are neatly tucked in and everything looks good.  On the other bags you can see the poor finish (green) and shoddier attachment.  Note that the red and Zebra bag have copied the original design, which is protected.

The side view is most telling so we saved it for last.  We did try to make the bags all look the same, but we could not.  They bend and buckle and bulge.  The red bag came closest to the Reisenthel look, which is what we had expected since this is a Chinese-made knock off.

Reisenthel has protected their design and all its’ elements with patents and has been trying to keep the market free of illegal copies.  However it’s easier said than done, and it’s an ongoing battle.

We hope you will see that there is a difference, and that essentially the old adage of ‘you get what you pay for’ is definitely true here.  Your Reisenthel Bag may cost a bit more (and at $39.99 it’s still an amazing bargain) but it will last longer and look better than any of the copies.

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