MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Scott, am I right to say that those of us who work in public media, who work here at NPR, we know a thing or two about a good tote bag?
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
A thing or two. You've got the Nina Totin' Bag. You've got many other options, a whole wide variety.
KELLY: Eighteen just in my desk. Well, it turns out that Trader Joe's is giving us a run for our money. Yes, Trader Joe's, the supermarket chain. Their tote bags have apparently become international fashion icons. They are popping up all over streets in London and in Paris, where, by the way, they don't even have Trader Joe's. Dave Schilling wrote about this for The Guardian. And, Dave, to be clear, we're talking about a plain old tote bag, right? Like, white? Blue handles? Red? Trader Joe's logo?
DAVE SCHILLING: Yeah, there's no gold trim on here. There's no leather additions. This is just the tote bag you can get at the Trader Joe's in your neighborhood.
KELLY: Why? Why is this the hot thing all over?
SCHILLING: Well, I think a big reason why stuff like this becomes popular overseas is people still kind of love America. There's still something seductive about American culture. You know, McDonald's and Budweiser are still things that people in other countries are fascinated by because it's not theirs. You know, movies, television shows, music - it's still America, even though there's a lot of antipathy growing towards our foreign policy.
KELLY: That's so interesting. You mentioned the antipathy that a lot of people may be feeling, and it is true. We're describing a bag from an American grocery store chain and how cool it is in all these corners of the world at a moment when America is not seen as cool in many corners of the world right now.
SCHILLING: Yeah. Well, Trader Joe's, at the very least, has kitsch factor, right? The employees wear Hawaiian shirts, and when a sale is announced they ring a bell, and all of the cashiers are very kind of casual and chatty. It's one of those places that's so uniquely American.
KELLY: Yeah. So what does carrying a Trader Joe's bag convey? Like, what image are people trying to project if you are carrying one on the streets of an international capital city?
SCHILLING: I'm a world traveler. I have been to America. I know that this exists. And I'm so kind of casually not completely put together that I seem above it all. It's almost the aloofness that comes from not caring. If you wanted to really show off and you wanted to carry a Birkin, then that's one thing, but if you're carrying a Trader Joe's tote bag, it means that you're a little less precious about the way that you look and that you have this cosmopolitan air. Like, oh, I just casually got this when I was in America. Like, that - I think that kind of tossed-off nature is appealing to people.
KELLY: I mean, we're circling around a little bit the idea of tote bags as soft power.
SCHILLING: Yes. I think that the Trader Joe's bags function in that way, or other signifiers of American popular culture have always been tools to get people on our side, to get people to like this country. And this is just an extension of that.
KELLY: Dave Schilling, do you own one of these tote bags?
SCHILLING: Yes. I'm actually looking at it right now.
KELLY: (Laughter).
SCHILLING: It's on my coatrack, and it was given to me by a friend, and I never use it.
KELLY: Never? Really?
SCHILLING: No. I have 400 other tote bags. Some of them from NPR.
KELLY: I was going to say. We at NPR can relate.
SCHILLING: Yeah, exactly. So I just - I don't think of it. And that's what makes it so fascinating that this has become a status symbol - is because it's something that I just never, ever, ever think about.
KELLY: Dave Schilling is an LA-based writer and humorist. Thank you so much.
SCHILLING: Thank you.
KELLY: Happy tote bags.
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