Igloo Designer’s Lunch Bags Make a Fashion Statement

By Lorrie Baumann

Twenty-eight-year-old Samantha Mongan thinks it’s important to look and feel organized. She says her put-together look shows the people around her, especially her employer, that she made the extra effort. “I’m a young businesswoman who wants to look like a professional designer, but not be constrained to ‘business’ attire,” she says. “I think it’s important because when you look good, you feel good.”

She shares the fashion designer’s aesthetic that accessories complete the look, and that means that she’s careful about the bag in which she takes her lunch to work with her. At her previous job, when she worked for a Houston-based fashion designer, the first place she went when she arrived at the office was the break room. “From my background with fashion, we were expected to look a certain way,” Mongan explains. “You bring in your nice handbag, and you’re wearing your fancy shoes, and you have this unexciting box with you, and it’s obvious that it’s your lunch. You have to hide it before you make your presence in the office.”

She considers herself fortunate that she doesn’t have to make that first-thing-in-the-morning rush to the refrigerator now that she works for Igloo, where she now designs insulated handbags that don’t have to be hidden away. Mongan is the designer behind the company’s Trend Up line, a collection of soft insulated lunch totes cute enough to be carried with pride. “If you have something that’s fashionable and blends with your look, you don’t have to hide it. You can even combine it to use as a purse as well as a lunch bag,” she says. “One of my favorite things to do in the spring is go to outdoor music festivals in the city. I’ll bring one of my Trends Up totes or an insulated backpack with me to carry my essentials plus my favorite snacks and drinks. All the while, I still look stylish, and no one would know my handbag was also a cooler.”

Mongan has only been working for Igloo since April 2015, when she was hired as an intern. She began by asking her friends if they knew of any job openings, and when her friend who was working for Igloo mentioned that the company had an opening for an internship, she leapt at the chance to interview for it. “I didn’t even care if I got paid. I just wanted to design,” she says.

Mongan’s first assignment with the company was the Trend Up project. Three short months later Igloo was so delighted with her work, they hired her for a full-time position as a soft goods product designer. “I love it. It’s the best job I’ve ever had! I always wanted to design products for a living. That’s why I studied Industrial Design at University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture,” explains Mongan.
During her leisure time, Mongan loves to spend time outdoors in the city where she lives. Mongan lives in The Heights, a character-filled, urban neighborhood just outside of downtown Houston. On afternoon strolls and weekend bike rides, she keeps her eyes open to new design opportunities. She likes to take along snacks and beverages on her rides, and pays close attention to what other people bring with them on the Heights Hike and Bike Trail. She has seen picnics along the trail with wine and cheese, bicycle handlebar bags, backpacks, and even makeshift trailers pulling large hard side coolers behind groups of cyclists.

Her observations along the trail were part of the inspiration behind Igloo’s Daytripper Backpack, which includes organized dividers to keep wine bottles from clinking together and divided pockets designed to carry a bamboo cutting board and cheese knives. “When designing a new product, I try to think about what features are needed to make my life and the lives of those around me easier,” she says. “For example, activities with my friends are sometimes planned at the last minute, but I don’t want to keep my friends waiting so I always keep a stylish cooler bag handy. That way I can fill it with ice and go. The versatility of Igloo’s soft side coolers allow you to look and feel organized, even if you’re not.”