Contributed by Tim Brugger, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru

When you’re in school, and even beyond, being cool often goes beyond a state of mind.

Looking cool, with just the right gear, is a necessity it seems. You know the look you want, the image you want to have. But whether you’re heading off to Middle School or Grad School, the quandary is how to find cool back-to-school gear without breaking the bank.

To help get you started, take a look at the following Best of Cool Back-to-School Gear list.

eReader

Cool reading

Being on the cutting edge of technology most certainly qualifies as cool back-to-school gear. Tossing a pocket sized Amazon Kindle into the backpack will show your student you’re hip to her need to (electronically) read, and look cool doing it. Not only is it cool, it may soon become a requirement as more and more high schools and colleges replace paper textbooks with electronic versions.

BMX shoes

Not too cool for school

From what my kids tell me, Etnies Jameson BMX shoes are the closest thing to Fonzie’s black leather jacket on the market today. After giving these Etnies a good once over, it’s hard to disagree. Definitely on the list of must have back-to-school gear. And they’re affordable, which makes them even cooler in my book.

Shades

With attitude

Hipster sunglasses; how cool is that? Back-to-school gear doesn’t get much more stylish than shades. Hurry and grab them while you can. Remember to take them off in class, and stashing them in your pocket in a dark hallway could keep you from looking totally uncool and walking into a wall.

Messenger bag

Look the part, even if it’s your first time away from home

Heading back-to-school – BIG university or grad school, that is, because this isn’t on a kindergarten budget – with just the right backpack has been the law for years now. You’ve earned the ultimate backpack. While the right backpack continues to provide a measure of cool, to really blow fellow students away it’s time to bust out the big guns.

Forget the ordinary backpack, and opt for a messenger bag that looks like a world traveler…no, a world EXPLORER would own it. That’s exactly what you’ll find at Filson, where adventure is designed into every bag.

Portable scanner

Scan anywhere

A perfect match to go along with Best of Cool Back-to-School Gear item #1, this pocket scanner will digitize books, documents and even pictures. Imagine your student being able to scan a chapter from the 12 pound Social Studies book, upload it to her eReader and leave the back-breaking book where it belongs; in her locker. It’s items like this that has Newegg.com slowly winning me over to this whole 21st century technology thing.