The cotton canvas of this bag seemed a bit flimsy to me. It doesn't hold it's structure while empty -- at all. And on the inside there were loose threads and some fraying. But I bought this months and months ago, almost a year ago -- and I use it every day. And it's held up. I really wasn't expecting that from the reviews, I just bought it because it was cheap -- and I bought more than one, in different colors/patterns, anticipating that this one would wear out quickly. But it hasn't so I haven't had to use the others.

That being said -- I'm not carrying big heavy text books in it. I'm carrying all my nursing crap and sometimes a granola bar or ziploc bag of granola or trail mix, and often a water bottle of 8-12 ounces. If I were carrying textbooks it might have worn out by now. So far, it hasn't, which has been kind of a nice surprise.

Maybe it doesn't deserve to be panned. It is working for me as a nursing bag to bring all my stuff to work. And it's actually pretty big and fits a lot of stuff. So much that it can hurt my back to just swing it over a shoulder!