Ron the Yarn Spinner

 

Dopp Kit

 If you ask around, I think most people are going to tell you this is a toiletry bag but perhaps some folks from The Greatest Generation (and I think it was) and a few others may know it as a Dopp Kit.

Dopp kit bag is simply another word for a toiletry bag that many of us know and use.  The name  makes sense when you learn more about its history.

A Dopp kit—spelled with two p's, not Dop kit—is a toiletry bag designed to hold grooming supplies. Dopp kits open wide and their compact  size that makes them particularly helpful for individuals who are traveling. Without taking up too much luggage space, a Dopp kit is able to offer a convenient space to pack a shaving kit, razor blades, shaving cream,  shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, nail clippers, and other essential toiletries.

The Dopp Kit acquired its name from a German leather-goods maker named Charles Doppelt, an immigrant to the United States. He invented his toiletry case, with the help of his nephew, in 1919.  Doppelt manufactured and sold the bags locally at first. Charles Doppelt Inc. was a Chicago company located  at 2024 South Wabash Avenue. The company got its  big break when the US Army signed a contract to supply Dopp kits to thousands of WWII recruits. Soldiers needed a way to keep their supplies organized in their duffle bags while maximizing luggage space. “Toiletry Kit,” however, was not sufficiently “GI” for the soldiers slugging it out with the Nazis so they simply called them Dopp Kits and often just “dopps.”  (German troops had their own version; field-kit.)

The dopp kit name and the product caught on with Americans in general and the Samsonite Company later purchased Doppelt’s company. Samsonite then trademarked the product  name so other  manufacturers could not label their toiletry kit is this way preventing the name Dopp Kit from being genericized and accounting  for why it is commonly known as a toiletry bag.

The Samsonite trademark expired in 2013 and was purchased by  Buxton Acquisition Co, LLC. The term now, however, is generic. Google dopp kit and toiletry kits / bags show up.

Now that you’ve learned about the history behind a dopp kit, maybe you want to invest in one of your own – a leather one. Ads say you can tell a lot about a man by the material of his dopp kit. I don’t know about that, but  if you  appreciate the real quality and durability of choice leather, check out the Buffalo Jackson Trading Company among a few others. Just be prepared to open your wallet wide - about as wide as a dopp kit.