Shay Mitchell has overhauled the Béis Weekender after nearly eight years of customer feedback, and the revised bag is now on sale with eight other travel products. The update turns a familiar carryall into a cleaner, lighter design with new packing features for people who actually use it hard.
Shay Mitchell on the Weekender
Mitchell, the founder and chief creative officer of Béis, said, "It was time for a refresh" and added, "I took it in, and me and the design team got to work." She said she has probably read reviews about the Béis Weekender on the internet, which is the kind of customer surveillance that can look obsessive until you see the results: a product line redesigned from the comments section up.
The renovation took a two-year process and now covers nine products, including the Weekender, Mini Weekender, Travel Backpack, Dopp Kit, Packing Cubes in small to extra large sizes, Large Check-In, Medium Check-In, Carry-On and Small Carry-On rollers. That scope matters because this is not a single bag tweak; it is a full reset of the travel shelf shoppers already know from Béis.
Weekender changes at Béis
The new Weekender removes a lot of hardware, swaps the leather bottom for a canvas one, adds locking zippers and more padding on the shoulder straps, and introduces an interior divider between the main and shoe compartments that can be rolled back to create one large packing space. Mitchell also said, "We’ve also taken out the frame so you truly can pack it to the brim," which is the practical answer to why the bag now behaves more like a soft-sided loadout than a structured tote.
Mitchell said the bag is slightly lighter, but she also acknowledged the tradeoff: it can still be heavy if it is filled with heavy items. That is the honest part of the redesign, and it is the part shoppers need to hear before they decide whether the new version fits the way they travel.
Mini Weekender and packing
Mitchell said the big size is for road trips and can be put on a roller, while the Mini Weekender is best if you are not traveling with a roller and want to carry it. In other words, Béis has split the same idea into two use cases instead of pretending one bag can solve every trip, which is a more useful product strategy than the usual one-size pitch.
Mitchell also said antibacterial hand wipes are the first thing that came to mind when asked what she keeps in her Weekender at all times. She said, "I honestly think that’s what — knock on wood — prevents me from getting sick, especially with all the travel that I do," and added, "I always have like three cellphone chargers on me," including a charger that attaches to the back of her phone; she described an Anker charger and said the pocket-sized MagSafe portable charger is less than half an inch thick.
For shoppers, the practical read is simple: Béis has already delivered the redesigned line, but the real decision is whether the Weekender’s added structure-free packing space is worth the fact that a fully loaded bag can still get heavy. Mitchell built the update around feedback about weight and shoulder-strap comfort, then left the bag roomy enough for the kind of overpacking she clearly expects her customers to keep doing.
