The Fragile Messenger Bag
Per nindivinedebris who provided the amazing photos and this item over on his Instagram Post January 4th, 2026:
I got this from a seller in the UK a few years ago. I assume this was exclusive to the European Fragility shows, either in 1999 or the summer of 2000, because I didn’t see it at US shows, and I have to imagine it would be more widely seen if it had been. Aside from the printed NIN/Fragility Logo on the front, there is no other tags or markings.
I did some detective work on this one to try to identify the brand of bag here. One thing that stood out was it vaguely reminded me of the old Chrome Industries messenger bags (@chrome_industries). I bought one of their Citizen bags around 2004, and there are some similarities in the designs.
After finding one small image on their site via the Wayback Machine that looked to possibly be a match, I reached out to their customer service and they confirmed that it was indeed one of their very early models, the Commodore bag, likely 1999 or 2000 due to the lack of inner pockets that were added a few years later. It jogged my memory a bit, because I remember when I was shopping for the Citizen model that I ended up with in 2004, they had a discounts section on their webstore and it often featured some commissioned branded bags at a discount. Needless to say, this was a satisfying mystery to solve!
The design is clever, as it can be a backpack or a messenger bag depending on which straps you use. It’s the perfect fit for vinyl records as shown in the last picture, and has two large open pockets under the flap. It’s weather resistant, constructed from PVC coated tarp material. It features a reflective strip on the flap, nylon straps and handle and buckle enclosures.
Some have reported that this is an actual Promotional bag distributed by Universal UK back around the time that The Fragile was released. Seeing as this does not have the Fragility nomenclature on the bag, this look to be more in line with what it is than actually being sold during the UK leg of the Fragility tour.