“Herschel’s method has been to generate wistfulness for a home that neither the brand nor its city-dwelling-hipster core clientele ever had.” A few years ago while shopping in a small store, I found a backpack that had the same name as my son. I looked forward to never having to worry about writing his name on his stuff again. That was then. Today, he refuses to carry the backpack with his name. They’re just too popular. Slate’s Jay Deshpande tries to explain how Herschel happened. (In retrospect, we should have named him JanSport.)