Survey: Manbag metrosexuals hoist a hefty load

Women have long been chastised for carrying everything but the kitchen sink in their handbags, but in 2011, it appears that men are quickly closing the gap.

New research commissioned has found that the average butch-bag contains items worth £104.80, only £4.28 less than the items in the average handbag.

He-holdalls in Northern Ireland contain the most expensive items (£147.27 on average) followed by the bags of Yorkshire and Humberside (£130.09 on average).

In comparison, in Wales they contain the least expensive items (£63.42 on average). London manbags are slightly more extravagant than the average, containing £115.60 worth of items, but are still less than the sir-satchels of those in Yorkshire and Humberside.

While more traditional essentials such as pens/notebook (51 per cent), keys (42 per cent) and wallets (40 per cent) top the list of items carried by men, the rise of the metrosexual is certainly evident. Aftershave is now carried by 5.1 million men (21 per cent) in their manbag and 1.2 million (five per cent) claim they carry hair styling products or a mirror. Just over 482,000 men (two per cent) even admit to carrying cosmetics.

Despite the valuable items lads-luggage tend to contain, only five per cent (1.2 million) have some or all of their bag’s contents covered by insurance.

Stuart Curson, head of Direct Line Home Insurance which commissioned the research, said: “Whilst the average manbag may only cost just over £30, the pieces inside are often worth more than three times this amount. As an increasing number of gadgets are taken out of the home, the need to protect our personal possessions becomes increasingly important.

“For many men, such items will be covered by their home contents insurance so we recommend they look at, and update, their policies as soon as possible.”