Of the two man purses Fernando Barraza owns, only one comes in lurid green leather with pony-hair polka dots. His other "murse" is more demure. Then there are his tote bags, messenger bags, laptop bags, gym bags, overnight bags, backpacks and a bright-coloured coin purse.
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He retrieves them from a heap at the bottom of his wardrobe and spreads them over the couch in his Waterloo apartment, in inner-city Sydney. You need a bag to hold all your bags, I say. "Mmmm," he says, eyes twinkling.
There are close to two dozen bags in his collection. "Gosh, I have a man bag every day with me," he says. "I don't think you can have enough bags. I don't think you can have enough of anything."
Sales of men's handbags soared 47 per cent in the US in 2014, while women's handbags dropped 5 per cent, according to analysts NPD. Man bags – once mocked as readily as meggings and man buns – were particularly popular among young men.
Separate figures show sales of men's luxury bags worldwide reportedly rose about 7 per cent to $US6.48 billion ($A8.32 billion) last year, as top-end brands increasingly targeted male consumers. The man-bag market – from murses to designer backpacks, duffel bags and mutches (men's clutches) – was forecast to rise 21 per cent by 2018 in Australia and New Zealand, against 7 per cent for women.
Cody Thomas, 27, of Spotswood, in Melbourne's south-west, says he spends about $1000 a year on bags. "I have in excess of 10 bags: a bag for work; a bag for my laptop and iPad; a bag to go to the gym or yoga; a bag for weekends; a bag for going out to dinner," he says.
"Just because I can fit everything in one bag doesn't mean that bag will be right for what I am wearing or doing that day. My generation very much live a life of excess. It's some kind of sick addiction."
Thomas runs a social media consultancy and needs a bag for the work he lugs around with him. Mobile phones are growing bigger again. Pants pockets are growing smaller still. Then there's his load of phone and computer chargers, his camera, cigarettes, keys and wallet.
He doesn't like the term "man bag". "It's just a bloody bag," he says. Sometimes, he might leave his bag in the car while popping into the shops. "But I feel a bit naked without it," he says.
Fashion stylist Barraza, 35, shows off his Tod's "script bag" in toffee-coloured leather with a "rubber pebble bottom", which retails for $US2165. There's a certain status in owning a luxury bag, he says. "Women have been rocking designer handbags for a long time but I think men are finding it more socially accepting to have a designer man bag."
He likes having a bag for every occasion: a black leather messenger bag for work; a tote bag for shopping; his bright-green murse for fashion shows; a grey Armani murse when visiting his parents at Fairfield, in western Sydney.
"Bags for me are an essential part of every single day," he says, looking over his vast collection. I tell him I have four bags only. "You're on your way," he says.
