Baggu, a 16-year-old brand best known for its lightweight, foldable totes, is all over TikTok, where Gen Z fans are driving renewed interest. Today Baggu is enjoying something of a boom, especially among Gen Z and courtesy of TikTok, which is teeming with self-described “Baggu girlies” bound together by their appreciation for the brand.

“I march to the beat of my own drum,” says Emily Sugihara, who, at the age of just 24, founded Baggu after seeing a void in the market for stylish, sustainable totes.

While the brand now makes all sorts of bags (as well as home goods, hats and beloved fabric face masks), its trademark item is the “Standard Baggu" reusable shopping bag.

“Always listen to your mother” isn’t exactly the kind of central tenet they teach you at Harvard Business School. But for Emily Sugihara, the California-raised, Brooklyn-based designer behind the reusable bag line Baggu (https://www.baggu.com/), it’s a piece of advice that’s been invaluable to the brand’s runaway success since its founding in 2007.

Emily Sugihara launched Baggu with her mom Joan shortly after graduating from college. The idea was to create a reusable shopping bag that was cute and more than just your standard cotton tote. She succeeded and the Standard Baggu, a nylon shoulder bag that comes with and fits in a 5" by 5" pouch, was born.

Baggu’s signature reusable tote is a fan-favorite for its ultra-lightweight construction, and affordable price. A compact design, which folds into the corresponding pouch for convenient storage, is an added bonus. Despite the fact that it weighs less than 2 ounces, this one-of-a-kind bag is sturdy enough to hold up to 50 pounds.