Adam Savage is clearly overjoyed about his new bag. Meeting up with the gear-obsessed designer, former MythBusters host, and Tested.com editor-in-chief at his bustling workshop in San Francisco, the enthusiasm is palpable. He is eager to show off his latest creation: his first-ever carryall utility bag, the EDC One. With this release, Savage is also launching a brand-new enterprise, Savage Industries, to manufacture and market it. Exhibiting the exact same childlike glee he so famously exudes on camera during his television days, Savage flipped the utility bag around on his workbench, opening and closing it, zipping and unzipping, while meticulously pointing out every single functional feature engineered into the design.
The EDC One is constructed almost entirely out of upcycled cloth sourced from old boat sails, meaning that each individual bag possesses its own unique quirks, battle scars, and character. Every specimen that rolls off the production line naturally arrives with a distinct, broken-in look that gives it an authentic history before it is even taken out into the field. Attention to detail is evident throughout the construction, starting with the handles, which are held together by powerful magnets instead of traditional snaps, buttons, or strips of Velcro. For anyone who has ever fiddled with stubborn or failing closures on their own daily carry bags, this design choice represents a genuinely welcome innovation. Users simply need to bring the handles near one another, and they leap together with a satisfying, mechanical clonk.
Equally clever is the structural integrity of the straps. They are stiff enough that the clasped handle stays propped upright like a little pup tent frame, waiting for the user to pick it up without fumbling. Unzip and pry open the bag, and it holds its shape securely in that configuration as well, thanks to a pair of clever spring steel inserts that run entirely around the lip. These inserts keep the mouth of the bag agape, resembling the wide-open jaw of a whale shark and allowing for effortless, unhindered access to the contents within.
Looking inside reveals a thoughtful interior layout designed for maximum utility. There is a dedicated pocket custom-sized to hold notebooks—Savage himself adores Tom Sachs Ten Bullets notebooks, though he emphasizes that the pocket is completely brand-agnostic—alongside a stack of horizontal loops specifically meant for securing pens and pencils. Down on the exterior bottom, which is reinforced with rugged Kevlar for enhanced durability against rough surfaces, strips of Velcro are sewn directly into the fabric. This particular detail hints at exciting accessories yet to come, such as padded bays designed for safely housing delicate camera equipment or a waterproof, bucket-like insert tailored for toting around a standard 12-pack of beverages.
Savage carefully engineered the bag so that it could effortlessly carry absolutely everything he needs for a full day out in the world, ranging from heavy-duty workshop tools to heavy reference books and lunch. Explaining the origins of the project, he notes that he drew direct design inspiration from two distinct historical and professional sources. The first is an old tool case he used back when he was employed as a professional model-builder at George Lucas’s legendary special effects house, Industrial Light & Magic. That vintage case also featured a clamshell top that flopped open to grant full, unobstructed access to the contents inside. Savage had spent years trying to find something similar available on the modern market, but after repeatedly finding himself disappointed in the commercial options currently out there, he decided to simply design and build his own version from scratch.
The second major source of inspiration is far more unique: the specialized purse given to Apollo astronauts during historic missions to the moon. Officially designated as the Temporary Stowage Bag, but colloquially referred to by space historians and insiders as the McDivitt Purse, this functional tote was largely forgotten by the public until Neil Armstrong’s widow famously rediscovered it while going through her recently deceased husband’s personal belongings. Savage actively borrowed a handful of key aesthetic and mechanical elements from this historic NASA design, including its simple, utilitarian shape, the steel closure mechanism, and the near-total absence of artificial color or pigment.
The choice of color is perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the EDC One. Yes, the bag is stark white, and at least for now, it is only available in white. While the hue looks remarkably striking against the rough textures of the upcycled sailcloth, it also seems deeply impractical on the surface for a rugged utility bag that is inevitably bound to soak up dirt, workshop grime, urban grit, and oil over the course of daily use. However, Savage makes a compelling sales pitch for the color choice. The bag will inevitably develop a rich, personal patina over time, and as he points out, patinas are undeniably cool because they tell the story of the object’s life. Furthermore, he pragmatically notes that it is practically impossible to find small tools or parts sitting at the very bottom of a pitch-black bag.
By choosing white, Savage also deliberately avoided falling in line with the prevailing fashion trends of tactical gear and urban camo that currently dominate the market for utility bags and everyday carry accessories. Instead, a pure white bag stands out as utterly unique in a sea of drab olive drabs and charcoal grays. It manages to avoid feeling hyper-masculine like the ubiquitous Cordura messenger bags seen on city streets everywhere, leaning instead into an aesthetic that is almost neutral, clean, and distinct.
While Savage has been actively sewing since he was in middle school—he is well-known for regularly creating his own elaborate costumes and cosplay builds—the heavy lifting, industrial-grade stitching, and manufacturing for this specific project were handled by Mafia, a company also based out of San Francisco. Mafia has built a strong reputation for producing a gorgeous line of durable bags constructed primarily out of recycled sailcloth. For this initial launch, Mafia has produced a few hundred Savage bags, with each individual unit backed by the company’s standard lifetime warranty.
The bags are currently available for purchase directly through Savage’s official website, with each unit priced at $225. Because of the limited nature of the initial production run, once the first batch officially sells out, the bags will transition to a backorder status until Mafia’s production facilities can catch up with the high demand. To add a bit of extra collector appeal for fans and gear enthusiasts, every single bag produced will be individually hand-numbered.
The launch of the EDC One marks just the beginning for Savage Industries as a newly minted brand. Savage hints that there is plenty more to come down the pipeline, including both a smaller version of this utility bag and a larger iteration. Even the upcoming larger version, however, will be carefully dimensioned to meet strict Federal Aviation Administration regulations for airline carry-on luggage. Beyond those upcoming bags and the modular accessories designed to Velcro directly into them, Savage remains tight-lipped about what other products he might be cooking up in his workshop. Whatever innovative gear ultimately arrives next from the mind of the veteran maker, the only lingering question for some fans will be whether it continues the stark, unpigmented tradition and comes in white.
