It’s All on Dads’ Shoulders

So long pink bunnies. Adieu yellow duckies. And bye-bye blue alphabet blocks. There’s a new diaper bag in town and it means business, babies.

Dad Gear, dubbed “the Swiss army knife of baby bags” is rugged, rough and ready to take on those sissified mommy bags that daddies just hate to lug.

That’s why Perry and Monica Lopez came up with the idea for their macho bags that hold baby bottles, creams, diapers and baby wipes as well as grown-up guy stuff on his shoulders while everyone else thinks he’s hitting the hiking trail.

After son Nikolas was born eight months ago, Perry soon realized there wasn’t a pocket for his pager, cell phone and other manly stuff in the diaper bags he and his wife shopped for. And had there been, those cutesy characters had to go.

So with the money from the sale of their Pasadena hot sauce shop called Hot, Hot, Hot, they started Dad Gear this past summer.

Their first bag, called the Niko (named after their son)--available at Fred Segal and Bellini specialty shops for from $89 to $110--features two insulated bottle pockets and a pouch for the changing pad, as well as a zip-down changing station with mesh organizer pockets. The pad is removable and washable as is the pouch for those dirty diapers. There are lots of other pockets for baby and dad stuff.

Perry says a bag specifically designed with dads in mind places more responsibility on fathers when it comes to packing the bag.

“With this bag, dads are packing the gear for the baby and themselves, so if dad forgets something, then it’s dad’s fault, not mom’s,” Lopez says.

Out in the next few months will be a Dad Gear shoulder bag called the Male Bag (under $80) with more room for baby toys and of course, dad toys, like a laptop computer.