The bulk of your new school year budget may be reserved for textbooks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself with any surplus cash.
1. Leave your roomie passive-aggressive notes on Umbra’s Talk magnetic chalkboard ($29.95, Neat, 628 Queen West, 416-368-6328, neatspace.ca).
2. The new Varsity collection at Roots includes lettered tote bags, sweatpants and this lightweight jacket ($98, 100 Bloor West, 416-323-3289, roots.com) in organic cotton.
3. Stand out from the rest of the Instagraming Hipstamatics at frosh week and shoot the action with Lomography’s sardine-can-inspired La Sardina camera ($90, Lomography Gallery Store, 536 Queen West, 647-352-6702, lomography.ca).
4. Just in time for back-to-school, Loblaws introduces its J+/- line of electronics and stationery supplies, including these handsome canisters of pencils ($3 each, Real Canadian Superstore, 825 Don Mills, 416-391-0080, superstore.ca).
5. Lighten up your workspace with CB2’s Carpenter task lamp ($79.95, cb2.com) in bright blue.
6. If you’re too low-maintenance for a bathroom caddie, hit the common loo with one of Mac Fab’s woven toiletry bags ($9.99, Jacob & Sebastian, 622 Queen West, 647-345-0478, jacobandsebastian.com).
7. Siwa makes lunch bags, briefcases and these eyeglass pouches ($28 each, Mjölk, 2959 Dundas West, 416-551-9853, mjolk.ca) out of flexible, water-resistant paper.
8. Switch from classic Chucks to scholastic chukkas like Converse’s thin-soled Jack Purcell boots ($110, Town Shoes, 95 Bloor West, 416-928-5062, and others, converse.com).
9. Best known for its notebooks, Moleskine gets into the bag business with this minimal knapsack ($170, The Bay, 176 Yonge, 416-861-9111, moleskine.com) in stealth black-on-black.
All photos by David Hawe