Few pieces of packaging are as instantly recognizable in cannabis culture as Zig-Zag’s French Orange booklet. Now it’s big enough to carry your stuff.
Designer RugSoda and Zig-Zag have teamed up on a 15-inch crossbody bag that re-creates the booklet in oversized form. The structured bag is made from vegan leather and keeps the original’s signature orange color, artwork and barcode, enlarged to match. A strip of white felt peeks out from under the magnetic flap like a rolling paper waiting to be pulled. The nylon strap is removable, so the bag can be worn as a crossbody or carried as an oversized clutch. Inside, a dedicated pocket holds an actual pack of Zig-Zag Orange papers.
Five Bags and 66,000 Reshares
The bag was never meant for retail. RugSoda originally made just five for a Zig-Zag giveaway, and the brand says the post generated more than 66,000 reshares and 4,000 comments, with people repeatedly asking where they could buy one. That response led to the limited run. In other words, the bag found its audience before it ever hit a shelf.
RugSoda, the alias of designer Nick Ferrara, is known for tufted rugs and outsized takes on everyday objects, from plush cigarette neck pillows to motherboard blankets to bags shaped like spray paint cans. His previous collaborations include Converse and MARKET.
From Le Zouave to Hip-Hop Icon
The source material has a long history. Zig-Zag papers launched in 1879 under the name Le Zouave and were renamed Zig-Zag in 1906, a nod to the way the interleaved papers zigzag out of the booklet. The bearded figure on the cover, known as Boris the Zouave, comes from brand legend: a French Zouave soldier whose clay pipe was shattered by a bullet mid-battle, so he rolled his tobacco in a strip torn from his gunpowder pouch instead.
Since then, the booklet has become counterculture shorthand. Zig-Zag reached icon status in the 1960s and ’70s as a staple of rock scenes and underground movements, and hip-hop artists from Dr. Dre and The Notorious B.I.G. to Redman and Eminem have been name-dropping it for decades. Dre’s 1992 album The Chronic famously put his own face on a cover modeled after the papers, and Tyler, The Creator nodded to the brand on 2025’s Don’t Tap the Glass, in a line that also mentions Converse, one of RugSoda’s past collaborators.
Fans Get a Say
The bag is the first release in Zig-Zag’s Artist Series, which gives creators working in fashion, art and design full creative freedom to reinterpret the brand. Each collaboration debuts as a giveaway, and strong fan demand can earn it a limited retail release on Zig-Zag Supply.
It’s the latest culture-forward move for a heritage brand that only recently went all in on cannabis. At Cannabis Now’s 4/20 Countdown in Times Square in 2025, which Zig-Zag presented, Maggie Streng, who oversees the brand, told us it was the first time Zig-Zag had been officially associated with cannabis, a shift reflected in packaging that now reads “for herbal use.” The brand’s companion exhibit, “Zig-Zag Through the Years,” mixed licensed memorabilia with fan art, proof that people have been reinterpreting the booklet on their own for generations.
This year, Zig-Zag debuted limited-edition Rose Cones, made from real rose petals, during Grammys weekend in Los Angeles and brought “Burn Slow” lounges to 4/20 festivals across the country. At the Rose Cones launch, Streng said the drop showed how a heritage brand can evolve alongside modern consumers “while staying rooted in craftsmanship.” The Artist Series puts that idea in other people’s hands.
From Crossbody to Coffee Table
Next, the series moves into interiors. On October 19, headwear designer Maurice Hats, whose custom clients include Beyoncé, will introduce a one-of-one French Orange bean bag handcrafted from Uruguayan leather with roughly 200,000 embroidery stitches. On November 16, contemporary artist SlumpyKev, Cartoon Network’s first Artist in Residence, will unveil the booklet reimagined as a one-of-one functional coffee table. Whether either piece follows RugSoda’s bag into retail will depend on demand.
The RugSoda x Zig-Zag Crossbody Bag launched September 30 and is available exclusively through Zig-Zag Supply for $299.99, limited to 125 pieces.
The post Zig-Zag’s Orange Booklet Is Now a Crossbody Bag appeared first on Cannabis Now.
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