Editor's Choice: Giving Back Is in the Bag

Sometimes the simplest basics — a streamlined black overcoat, a classic blazer — can be the hardest to find. Sure, there are plenty of dowdy or expensive essentials out there, but when it comes to finding truly affordable staples that have been tweaked just enough to make them stylish, it can be a challenge to track down something that feels modern, chic, and substantial enough to not look tacky or cheap.

Occasionally, those basics can be found in unlikely places, and with a charity component to boot. Illy — the coffee company that's the brand of choice for many espressoholics — recently introduced what it's calling the "Bean Bag," a perfectly sized and understated unisex messenger bag with 100 percent of sales earmarked towards Share Our Strength, the organization that works towards ending children's hunger around the world.

It's the perfect anti-it bag: sturdy, discreetly chic, and roomy enough to fit a newspaper and some snacks along with your wallet, cell phone, and other necessities. In a pinch, it could also hold groceries or an impulse purchase or two, and its streamlined style works both cross-body and on the shoulder.

And just in case you forget the coffee connection — although there is a tiny red illy tag on the front — the bag comes packed with two tins of the company's strong Italian style coffee. You can feel good about that too: Social responsibility is an inherent part of the way illy operates its coffee business, by paying premium prices to growers of ethically and sustainably grown beans, and raising money for the communities that grow its beans through its Cup of Kindness program.

The cans, which are covered with images of coffee growers by photographer Sebastião Salgado, are recyclable … although, since they're decorative and sturdy, chances are you'll want to save them to reuse instead. Oh, and the bag, including just over a pound of coffee retails for just $30. In other words, for the price of a week's worth of venti soy lattes, you can have your bag and drink up too.

Illy Bean Bag. $30, www.illyusa.com.