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Did a Cult-Favorite Bike Messenger Brand Accidentally Make the Perfect Commuter Pack?

Blending cycling and culinary influences somehow produces a hip, hyper-versatile daily bag everyone can love.

Black roll-top backpack with diagonal zippers and red zipper pulls against a green background.Chrome Industries
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By Steve Mazzucchi

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Last fall, Portland, Oregon-based bike messenger favorite Chrome Industries teamed up with an unlikely partner, NYC hospitality workwear brand Tilit, reimagining its popular Kadet cross-body sling with a chef-friendly knife roll. 

As niche as the release appeared to be, it was cool enough to catch admiration beyond city cycling and culinary sub-cultures. 

Black and gray roll-top backpack with reflective strap and orange zipper pulls worn by a person in a white shirt.
The new Chef Pack is optimized for versatile and comfortable everyday carry, whether you cook professionally or not.
Chrome Industries

The appeal only rises with the brands’ follow-up collaboration, a release you need not be a crit champ or CIA grad to put to good use.

Thanks to lots of handy features, the new Chrome x Tilit 29L Chef Pack could be the ultimate commuter pack for just about anyone.

Wherever I may Chrome

As an avowed Chrome super fan, I’ve tested enough of their bags to know the pack alone is a dependable, weather-resistant winner. 

Black roll-top backpack with gray front pocket and red zipper pulls on a metal surface.
The pack’s base is solid enough to stand on its own, so you can set it down without it flopping over and making a mess.
Chrome Industries

Made of rugged, often recycled materials, the expandable rolltop offers 29 liters of storage space augmented by a padded laptop sleeve, transparent external mesh pocket with a key clip and a bottle pocket big enough to fit a wine bottle. 

Even when loaded up, the pack remains comfortable thanks to padded ergonomic shoulder straps (with accessory rails), a removable sternum strap and a supportive, breathable 3D-molded back panel.

Black roll-top backpack with padded laptop sleeve, knife roll pocket, bottle pocket, removable tote bag, and transparent mesh pocket.
This diagram neatly points out the best features of the pack and its two thoughtfully designed inserts.
Chrome Industries

Yet what makes this pack really stand out from the, er, pack is a pair of built-in storage vessels. 

The most obvious one is reprised from the fall collab: the knife roll, which boasts Velcro hold-down straps, protective flaps, UHMWPE cut-resistant fabric reinforcement, a tarp lining and a small zippered see-through pocket.

Black knife roll with red zipper pulls containing two chef knives and a small tool on a metal surface.
The knife roll is best for storing, you know, knives, but it can accommodate a range of small everyday essentials.
Chrome Industries

While it is obviously purpose-built and tough enough for stashing knives and other essential tools, that only makes it extra qualified for toting non-chefy items such as pens, pocket knives, multi-tools, small tech accessories and more.

The knife roll also gets its own dedicated sleeve on the rear of the pack for tidily storing when not in use.

Two people with black and gray tote bags, one with flowers inside, sitting and standing near a cafe window.
In addition to riding inside the pack, the 25L tote (left) functions perfectly well (and handily) as its own bag, too.
Chrome Industries

The second vessel is arguably even cooler: a removable 25L spill-proof tote that can either aid with internal organization of the pack or be used as independently as a utilitarian shoulder-carry gear hauler.

A third application applies specifically to air travel: carry the pack on to the plane with the tote holding your in-flight essentials, and you can simply pull that out and store the rest in the overhead bin. 

You kind of know everything you need to at this point, but this strangely soothing little video neatly puts the pack’s coolest features into practice.

Just make sure to leave the knives at home that day, OK?

Availability and pricing

The Chrome x Tilit 29L Chef Pack is available now for $220.

About the Author:

Now managing editor, Steve has served in a variety of roles with GP since 2019. Having previously written and edited for such publications as Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Esquire and ESPN, he enjoys covering a range of topics — but mostly those pertaining to cycling, snow sports, pocket knives and motos — and dreams of a utopian world in which everyone’s bike seat is at the proper height.

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