Shay Mitchell and Béis have updated the Weekender and eight other travel products after nearly eight years of customer feedback, putting a lighter, reworked version of the bag on sale now. The refreshed lineup covers nine products in all, from the Weekender to rollers, packing cubes and a travel backpack.
Mitchell said she had probably read reviews about the Weekender online and that she and her team used those comments to overhaul the core travel line. The renovation took about two years, she said, and she described it as a response to the way people actually travel, especially complaints that the bag was too heavy and that the shoulder straps could dig in.
The Weekender is the centerpiece of the update, and Mitchell said the changes go beyond a simple trim. The new version takes off much of the hardware, swaps the leather bottom for canvas, adds locking zippers and increases padding on the shoulder straps. It also gets an interior divider between the main compartment and the shoe section, though that divider can be rolled back to create one large packing space.
There is also a practical tradeoff built into the redesign. Mitchell said the new Weekender no longer has a frame, so it can be packed to the brim, and that the bag is slightly lighter than the old one. But she also acknowledged the obvious: if someone stuffs a bag with a lot of heavy items, it is still going to be heavy. The lighter build helps, she said, but it does not change the laws of packing.
That is part of why the update matters now. Béis customers who live out of carry-ons, rollers and overstuffed weekend bags now have a revised version of one of the brand’s signature pieces, along with the Mini Weekender, Travel Backpack, Dopp Kit, Packing Cubes in sizes from small to extra large, Large Check-In, Medium Check-In, Carry-On and Small Carry-On rollers. Mitchell said the large size is meant for road trips and can sit on a roller, while the Mini Weekender is for travelers who are not using a roller and want to carry the bag.
Mitchell’s own packing habits still shape the product story. When asked what she keeps in her Weekender all the time, she said antibacterial hand wipes came first to mind, then added that she always has about three cellphone chargers on her. She said she likes chargers that attach to the back of her phone and pointed to an Anker charger as an example, while also noting a pocket-sized MagSafe portable charger that is less than half an inch thick.
The result is a refresh that keeps the Weekender recognizable while changing enough to answer the criticism that built up around it. Mitchell said she loves the original bag and will always love it, but the new one is the version shaped by nearly eight years of comments and a two-year rebuild. What remains unanswered is how much each of the nine products changed individually, but the new collection is here now, and the old complaints have clearly been built into the design.
