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The Lululemon Belt Bag Dupe, and the Rest of the Gym Kit Worth Buying

Writer: Cameron Rosenthal
Cameron Rosenthal
Sep 16
5 min read

The Everywhere Belt Bag is the most copied product in activewear, and unusually, the copies are fine.


That is not true of most things. A cheap legging gives itself away in the fabric and a cheap jacket gives itself away at the zips — but a belt bag is a rectangle of nylon with a strap and a zip, and there is only so much a brand can do with that. Which is why the affordable versions get genuinely close, and why this is the easiest thing on this site to buy for less.


So: the belt bag, then the bag you put it in, then the bottle, then the small things that decide whether the bag works or just holds objects.


This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. I don't quote prices — they move too fast to be useful. Products were checked on Amazon in September 2026.


What's in this guide


  • The belt bag, and the one part that actually fails

  • The gym bag: wet pockets, shoe compartments and what you need

  • The water bottle, and the cupholder problem

  • The small stuff that makes a bag work

  • What I'd actually pack for a class


The belt bag

Gym bag essentials laid out flat - phone, wallet, keys and small kit
A litre is the number. Bigger sags, smaller stays home.

What makes the original work


Three things, and they're all boring:


  • About a litre of space — enough for a phone, keys, cards and a lip balm. Bigger and it sags; smaller and you leave it at home.

  • A strap that goes long enough — the crossbody-over-the-chest way of wearing it needs roughly 42 inches, and a lot of cheap bags stop at 36.

  • A flat back pocket — where the phone goes so it isn't rattling against your keys.


Nothing there is proprietary. Check those three numbers in the listing and you have most of it.


The picks



The two-way zipper is the upgrade nobody asks for and everybody wants — you can open it from either end without swinging the bag around. Highest rated of the ones I looked at.


Closest to the original: Mini Everywhere Crossbody Belt Bag


Same proportions, same puffy nylon, same strap adjustment. If you want the silhouette rather than a reinterpretation of it, this is the one.



The same shape in the muted colorways that actually go with activewear, rather than primary brights.



Roughly double the capacity and organized rather than one open cavity. Better for travel days than for the studio.


The one part that fails


Zippers. Not the fabric, not the strap, not the stitching — every belt bag that dies, dies at the zip.


When you're reading reviews, search the page for the word "zipper" and read only those. If three people mention it catching or splitting in the first month, believe them and buy something else. It's the single highest-signal thing in a listing.


The gym bag


The wet pocket is the whole argument


A separate sealed compartment for damp things is the difference between a bag you can use twice in a day and one you have to empty and air out. If you swim, do hot yoga, or ever put a sweaty top back in the bag, this is the feature to pay for.


Shoe compartments are more of a mixed case. They're genuinely useful if you carry lifting shoes or trainers you don't want against your clothes — but they eat a lot of the bag's volume, and if you're walking to a reformer class in the shoes you'll wear there, you're carrying a hole.



Both compartments, properly separated, in a bag that isn't enormous. The highest-rated of the dedicated gym duffles and the one I'd buy if I went straight from work.


Best if it doubles as luggage: Weekender Duffle with Trolley Sleeve


Big enough for two nights, with a sleeve that slides over a suitcase handle. Skip the shoe compartment version of this one — at travel size it wastes too much room.


The water bottle

Insulated water bottle beside folded workout clothes
Straw for studio classes, wide mouth for everything else.

Straw, chug, or flip


  • Straw — the only one you can drink from without sitting up, which matters more than it sounds in a mat class. Also the one that leaks most often.

  • Chug (wide mouth) — fastest to fill, easiest to get ice into, easiest to clean. Worst to drink from mid-set.

  • Flip spout — the compromise. Fine at a desk, awkward upside down.


For studio classes, straw. For lifting, chug. That's genuinely the whole decision.


The cupholder problem


This rules out more bottles than anything else and almost no listing mentions it. A standard car cupholder is about 3.4 inches across. A lot of the 40oz bottles everyone carries are wider than that at the base, which is why you see them wedged in passenger seats.


If you drive to class, check the base diameter before you check anything else.



Two lids in one, and a base built to fit a cupholder — which the listing actually states, and most don't.



Tumbler shape with a handle and a straw. The handle is the reason to pick it — you can carry it, a mat and a bag in two hands.



For ice and for actually being able to clean it. Wide mouth bottles are the only ones that don't eventually smell.


The small stuff that makes the bag work


A gym bag with loose objects rolling around in it is a bag you dread opening. Four things fix that permanently.



Not just for travel. One cube for clean clothes, one for everything else, and the bag stops being a lucky dip.



Packs down to nothing and dries genuinely fast, which a cotton gym towel does not.



For the days when there is no shower and you have somewhere to be. Unglamorous and the most-used thing in the bag.



Actually absorbs rather than just coating. The travel size lives in the bag and never comes out.


Plus an XL claw clip, which weighs nothing and solves the hair problem on the way out.


What I'd actually pack for a class


Belt bag with phone, keys and a card. Grip socks. A change of top in a packing cube. The towel, the wipes, the dry shampoo. Bottle filled before you leave, because studio taps are always somewhere inconvenient.


That's it. Everything else you think you need lives in the car.


If the class is reformer Pilates and you haven't been before, the what-to-wear guide covers the grip socks rule and the things that catch on the machine. And if you're building the wardrobe rather than the bag, the activewear shopping guide is the place to start.


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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing and it is how the blog pays for itself.

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