POM floral travel accessories: pouches, washbags and glasses cases
The POM floral travel accessories we stock come in three shapes: a recycled leather travel pouch, a slim glasses case in the same material, and a velvet washbag in a floral meadow print. All three carry prints drawn from traditional English meadow planting, which is why they sit in a garden shop rather than a luggage department.
They are small things that solve a small, real problem, which is that everything loose in a bag ends up at the bottom of it.
- What is in the range
- Recycled leather, and what that means
- Coordinating the colours
- As a gift
- Frequently asked questions
What is in the range
- Travel pouches, in recycled leather with a zip closure, in pink or yellow floral. Sized for cables, chargers, a passport and the handful of small things that otherwise migrate to the bottom of a bag.
- Glasses cases, same recycled leather and prints, in a slim structured shape that slides into a handbag without adding bulk. Reading glasses or sunglasses, protected from scratches.
- Velvet floral meadow washbags, in salmon pink or lime green, with a soft-touch velvet finish and a zip. Made for skincare and toiletries, and sized to move between a vanity table and a suitcase.
Recycled leather, and what that means
Recycled leather is made from leather offcuts and fibres that would otherwise be waste, bonded and finished into a new usable material. It is not a plastic imitation, and it is not full-grain hide either. In practice it takes a print far better than natural leather does, which is why these carry the floral pattern so cleanly.
For a pouch or a glasses case that is exactly the right trade-off. You want something structured, scratch-resistant and light, and you are not asking it to age like a saddle.
Coordinating the colours
The palette runs across sunshine yellow, coral pink and meadow green, and the prints are designed to work together rather than match exactly.
Packing in coordinated colours is not vanity. It is the fastest way to find the right thing in a suitcase without emptying it, which is the same argument as brightly patterned secateurs being easier to spot in a border. Yellow for tech, pink for documents, green for toiletries, and you stop rummaging.
The pouches also work outside a suitcase. A recycled leather pouch with a zip is close enough to a clutch to carry on its own for a walk or a lunch, which is more use than most travel accessories get between holidays.
As a gift
These are among the easier gifts we stock, for the same reason a scarf is: no sizing, no assumptions about someone's taste in clothes, and a use for them whether or not the recipient travels.
A pouch and a glasses case in matching prints makes an obvious pair, and both are light enough to post. For a gardener who likes a floral print but has every tool going, this is the shelf to look at rather than the tool rack.
The full range sits in the POM collection, alongside their scarves and socks, and the wider selection is in Bags and Gifts For Women.
Frequently asked questions
What is recycled leather?
Recycled leather is made from leather offcuts and fibres left over from other manufacturing, bonded together and finished into a new material rather than sent to waste. It is not synthetic imitation leather, and it is not full-grain hide. The practical differences are that it holds a printed pattern far more cleanly than natural leather, and that it keeps a structured shape well, which suits a slim glasses case or a zipped pouch. It is a sensible use of a material that would otherwise be discarded.
What do you use a travel pouch for?
Anything small and loose that gets lost at the bottom of a bag. Cables and chargers are the usual answer, along with a passport, boarding passes, keys and the odd packet of tablets. The zip is the point: an open pocket does not stop things escaping, and a pouch keeps a group of related items together so you can lift out the whole set at once. Plenty of people use one at home rather than for travel, as a drawer tidy that can be picked up and moved.
What is the difference between the washbags and the travel pouches?
Material and purpose. The washbags are soft-touch velvet in a floral meadow print and are sized for skincare and toiletries, so they have more depth and give. The travel pouches are recycled leather, flatter and more structured, and are built for cables, documents and small essentials rather than bottles. If you want one item that does both, the pouch is the more versatile shape, but it will not hold a full toiletry kit.
Do the POM accessories come in matching colours?
They run across a shared palette of sunshine yellow, coral pink and meadow green, and the floral prints are designed to sit together rather than match precisely. The pink and yellow prints appear across both the travel pouches and the glasses cases, so those two pair up directly. The washbags come in salmon pink and lime green, which complement rather than replicate the leather prints. Buying two pieces in the same colour family is the simplest way to make a set.
Are these a good gift for someone who does not travel much?
Yes, and arguably better. A glasses case gets daily use regardless of whether anyone goes anywhere, and a zipped pouch is as useful in a bedside drawer or a handbag as it is in a suitcase. The washbags do the same job on a bathroom shelf that they do in a case. Like a scarf, none of these needs sizing or any knowledge of the recipient's wardrobe, which makes them a reliable choice when you want something considered rather than generic.
Written by David Hurrion
David Hurrion is a trained horticulturist, teacher and journalist who has worked on nurseries, taught at colleges, and edited some of the nation's leading gardening magazines. He chooses everything Norman & Vera stocks, and makes practical gardening videos for BBC Gardeners' World Magazine.