Is this Wall Street staple or cringe?

"They're standard, cylindrical gym duffels that are customized with a firm's branding. Banks give them out to their employees when they first start. What's there to dislike? A lot of it boils down to rank. More tenured bankers stick their noses up at the bags because they've become the unofficial signifier that one is an early-career analyst who hasn't earned their stripes, yet is eager to show off where they work."

"Lisa McCullagh, the founder of bagmaker Scarborough and Tweed, whose first financial clients were JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, told Business Insider that all of the conversation around the bags is flattering, even if sometimes takes a razzing tone. "They poke fun at themselves, but they do love it," McCullagh, who gets orders for thousands of bags a year, said. "It's like this little rite of passage into the community.""

Banker bags are cylindrical, firm-branded gym duffels commonly issued to new employees at financial firms. The bags function as practical luggage for long office hours and commuting. Perceptions split by tenure: junior bankers often wear them with pride while more tenured colleagues view them as a marker of inexperience or an unearned status signal. Social media and resale markets have amplified attention, with meme accounts producing versions and eBay listings for secondhand bags. Manufacturers report high-volume orders and describe the bags as a culturally resonant rite of passage within the finance community despite lighthearted teasing.

Read at Business Insider