The Best Straw Bags, From Palm Baskets and Raffia Totes to Structured Wicker

The best straw bags are the ones built for where you will carry them. For markets and weekends, buy a palm-leaf or raffia basket with leather handles. For the city, choose a structured wicker or rattan bag that closes. Take a big open raffia tote to the beach and a raffia clutch to dinner. Among the houses that make them best are Loewe, for leather-handled palm-leaf baskets, The Row and Khaite, for quiet, finely woven raffia, and Prada and Miu Miu, for rattan finished in leather. This guide explains what raffia, palm, paper, sisal, wicker and rattan actually are and how each one wears, what separates a straw bag that lasts from one that frays by August, and our picks by shape. Then it covers how to carry straw in the city and at the beach, and how to clean and store it.

What a straw bag is made of: raffia, palm, paper, wicker and rattan

"Straw" is a catch-all. On a designer bag it can mean at least six different materials, and they do not behave alike. Read the composition line on the product page before you buy: a bag sold as a raffia tote may be palm fiber, paper yarn, or viscose or nylon made to look like raffia. Check it for the exact color you want, too. When we compared listings for this guide, one house's basket tote was 90 percent raffia in camel and 80 percent viscose in black, under the same name.

Raffia covers the widest range. A fine raffia cloth can be as soft as cotton, yet raffia is also sturdy enough for baskets and mats, as the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fashion History Timeline explains. Rattan is a palm too, but a climbing one: the canes are the stems of climbing palms that grow throughout Southeast Asia, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Wicker is a weave, not a material. It means stiff rods woven around a frame, and on designer bags those rods are usually rattan, sometimes willow (listed on product pages as osier). That is why a wicker bag keeps its shape empty while a raffia tote slumps. A listing that gives only "wicker" as the material does not tell you which plant, or whether it is a plant at all, so we left those out of our picks. Neither weave is better; they do different jobs.

How to choose the best straw bags: weave, trim, lining and closure

Five details decide how long a straw bag lasts, and you can check all of them by zooming in on the product images.

• The weave. A tight, even weave with no gaps at the corners wears longest. Open, lacy weaves and crochet look lighter and more handmade, but they snag on rings and bracelets and let small things fall through, so they need a lining or a pouch.
• Leather at the edges. Straw wears first where it rubs: the rim, the corners of the base and the points where the handles attach. A leather-bound rim and a reinforced base are the difference between one summer and several.
• The handles. Leather handles stitched or riveted through a leather tab carry weight better than straw handles, which stretch and fray. Rolled leather handles are the most comfortable in the hand; flat, wider straps spread the weight better on the shoulder.
• A lining or an insert. Many baskets are unlined, which suits the beach, because sand falls straight out, and does not suit the city, where keys wear through an open weave and lipsticks slip out. If you love an unlined basket, add a zip pouch inside it.
• A closure. A drawstring, a magnetic tab, a flap or a zip is what turns a beach bag into a city bag. Keep open baskets for places where nobody will reach into your bag.

The best designer basket bags

The basket is the original straw bag and still the most useful: deep, open, stiff enough to stand on its own, and wide enough at the top to see everything inside. The designer versions add what a market basket lacks: leather handles long enough to go over the shoulder, a bound rim, and often a leather patch pocket or a detachable strap. Palm-leaf baskets are the crispest and lightest, raffia baskets are softer and more open, and a black raffia basket is the one that looks at home in town.

Carry a basket in the hand with a linen dress, or on the shoulder with jeans and a knit. Proportion matters more than you would think: a medium basket, about the width of your hips, looks right with most outfits, while an oversized one is for the beach. Knotted or rolled leather handles long enough for the shoulder are worth paying for if you will carry it all day. Browse more designer raffia bags.

The best straw totes for the beach and the market

A straw tote is bigger and squarer than a basket, with two shoulder straps and room for a towel, a book and a water bottle. Check three things before you buy one. First, the drop of the straps: it should clear your shoulder over a linen shirt, which usually means at least nine or ten inches. Second, somewhere secure for your phone and keys, such as a zip pocket, a detachable pouch or a lining. Third, how the tote behaves empty: crochet and knitted raffia collapse into soft shapes, while tightly woven and leather-framed totes stay upright on a café chair.

An open weave needs a lining, or everything in it shows and small things slip through. A tote that folds flat is the one to pack for a trip: Loewe has made its folding leather tote in raffia for its summer line with the Ibiza label Paula's Ibiza, and our guide to Loewe's leather bags covers the original. A black or dark brown raffia tote is the straw bag most likely to pass as an everyday city tote. For the sand itself, see our edit of the best beach bags, and browse more designer tote bags.

Structured wicker and rattan bags for the city

When a straw bag has to work at the office or at lunch in town, choose rattan or willow wicker. The frame holds its shape, smooth canes look polished rather than beachy, and most of these bags close with a flap, a drawstring or a clasp and come lined. The three shapes to know are the bucket, the top-handle bag and the vanity case. Prada and Miu Miu weave their rattan buckets and top-handle bags with leather rims, linings and detachable straps, which is exactly what makes them wearable with a suit. A black leather flap over natural cane is the most city-proof version of all, because it hides the part of the bag your hand touches most.

Two cautions. Rattan is rigid, so it cracks if it is crushed: carry it rather than stuffing it into a tote or a suitcase. And a structured bag is heavier empty than a raffia one, so if you walk everywhere, a small top-handle or a bucket on a long strap is easier than a big box shape. Browse more designer bucket bags.

Raffia shoulder bags for every day

A raffia shoulder bag is the straw bag you will carry most often, because it weighs almost nothing in the heat and sits under the arm where you can keep a hand on it. The shapes worth knowing are the soft hobo, the crescent, and the structured bag with a flap or a top handle. The quietest versions are plain raffia, or paper straw, with very little leather; others carry the house's hardware or work the raffia into crochet. For the city, choose a closure you can open with one hand, and consider two-tone or dark raffia, which shows less wear than pale natural straw. Several houses also make their best-known leather shapes in raffia, so if there is a leather bag you already love, look for its straw version before you look anywhere else.

Raffia clutches and pouches for summer evenings

A raffia clutch is the most useful evening bag for a summer that is mostly outdoors. It reads as dressed with a slip dress or a silk shirt, yet it looks at ease at a beach restaurant, a garden party or a daytime wedding in a way satin does not. Choose a flat envelope or a flap clutch with a leather trim for the neatest line; embroidered, striped and ruffled raffia bring the color for a plain dress. A wrist strap or a detachable shoulder strap is worth having if you plan to dance or hold a glass. For black tie, go back to satin or metal; our guide to the best evening bags covers those.

Browse all designer clutch bags.

City or beach: when and how to carry a straw bag

Our rule of thumb: straw comes out when the winter coat goes away, which in most of the US means April or May, and stays out until the first cool weeks of fall. In South Florida and Southern California it works for most of the year. Pale straw looks out of place against wool coats and heavy knits, so if you want to stretch the season, choose dark raffia or wicker.

In the city, choose a bag that closes, is lined and has leather trim, keep it to a medium or small size, and let it be the one relaxed piece in a polished outfit. A basket has carried that kind of outfit for decades. As Sotheby's recounts, Jane Birkin's wicker basket spilled its contents onto the lap of Hermès' Jean-Louis Dumas on an Air France flight in 1981, the chance meeting that led to the Birkin bag. The rest of that story is in our Hermès guide.

At the beach, an open tote or basket is right, and unlined is fine. Put sunscreen, damp swimsuits and water bottles in a separate pouch, because oil and water mark natural fiber, and keep the bag in the shade when you are not carrying it. For everything else in the suitcase, our resort wear guide works through the beach, the harbor town and the yacht.

Four formulas to start from:

• Office: a small rattan bucket bag, ivory linen trousers, a navy poplin shirt and flat leather sandals.
• Weekend: a palm-leaf basket, straight white jeans, a striped T-shirt and flat espadrilles.
• Beach: a large raffia tote, a cotton kaftan, flat sandals and a wide-brimmed sun hat.
• Evening: a raffia clutch, a black silk slip dress, gold earrings and heeled mules.

Our stylists' edit of high summer's best accessories shows raffia bags alongside the sandals and hats that go with them. If you already own a straw bag, ask our AI stylist to build a week of outfits around it.

How to clean and store a straw bag

Museum conservators care for baskets the same way you should care for a straw bag, and their advice is specific.

• Brush, don't wash. Remove dust with a soft, clean brush, such as an artist's or cosmetic brush, working along the weave rather than across it.
• Keep water away. Wet plant fiber invites mold, and many colored straws use dyes that water can wash away or fade, the Burke Museum warns. For a mark, blot with a barely damp cloth rather than scrubbing. If the bag gets soaked, blot it, pad the inside to hold the shape and let it dry in the shade at room temperature, never in direct sun or with a hair dryer.
• Mind the humidity. Above about 65% relative humidity mold can grow, and below about 40% plant materials become dry and brittle, according to the Canadian Conservation Institute. A closet in the lived-in part of the house is fine; an attic or a basement is not.
• Store it padded, not crushed. Fill the inside with acid-free tissue so it keeps its shape, without overstuffing, and never stack one basket inside another. A breathable cotton dust bag is better than plastic, which traps moisture.
• Keep it out of the sun. Light yellows and fades plant fiber, and applied dyes can fade faster still, the CCI notes, so striped and colored raffia go first. Do not store a bag on a sunny shelf.
• Look after the leather separately. Condition leather trim and handles with a leather product, applied only to the leather.

Tissue is also the gentlest fix for a raffia bag that has been squashed in a suitcase: fill it loosely and give the weave time to relax back into shape. Cracked rattan will not recover that way, so take it to a repairer before the break spreads.

How we chose

We looked for straw bags in five shapes, baskets, totes, structured wicker and rattan, shoulder bags and clutches, across the top luxury houses Vêtir carries, and read the composition of every one. Only natural fibers made our picks: raffia, palm leaf, paper, rattan and willow. We left out bags sold as raffia whose listings give viscose, nylon or polyamide, and wicker bags that name no plant. After that we favored leather trim, leather handles and, for city bags, closures and linings, checked every product image for color and shape, and spread the picks across more than 20 houses, from Jacquemus and Chloé baskets to leather-framed Italian rattan. If a pick sells out, its section refills with bags of the same type, limited to houses whose straw we checked for this guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is a raffia bag the same as a straw bag?

A raffia bag is one kind of straw bag. "Straw" covers raffia, palm leaf, paper, sisal, rattan and wicker, and some bags sold as raffia are viscose or nylon made to look like it. The composition line on the product page tells you which you are buying.

When can you start carrying a straw bag?

We bring one out as soon as the winter coat goes away, which in most of the US means April or May, and carry it through September. In warm climates you can carry one year-round. Dark raffia and wicker work longer into fall than pale straw.

Can a straw bag get wet?

Try not to let it. Water can stain natural fiber, lift dyes and encourage mold. If it gets wet, blot it, stuff it with tissue and let it dry flat in the shade.

How do you clean a raffia bag?

Brush off dust with a soft brush along the weave and blot marks with a barely damp cloth. Never soak a raffia bag or put it in a washing machine.

How should you store a straw bag over winter?

Stuff it lightly with acid-free tissue, put it in a cotton dust bag and keep it on a shelf in a closet, away from sun, heat and damp. Do not stack baskets inside one another.

Are designer straw bags worth it?

If you carry one every summer, yes. The difference is in the density of the weave, leather trim and handles, a lining and a proper closure, which is what lets a straw bag go from the beach to the city and last for years rather than one season.

Keep reading

• The best beach bags
• Resort wear: what to pack for the beach, the harbor town and the yacht
• What to wear in St. Barths
• The best evening bags