The purposes of this study were to investigate bag purchasing behaviors and design preferences of male and female adult consumers, and to find the differences depending on sex and age variable. A survey was conducted on 400 male and female adults from 20s to 50s. The questionnaire consisted of bag purchase behaviors, bag design preferences, and the subjects' demographic characteristics. The data were analyzed by Cronbach's α, factor analysis, x2 test and t-test using SPSS. The results were as follows. First, as bag selection criteria, four factors (practicality, symbolism, aesthetics, and economics) were derived, and adult consumers considered economics as the most important among the factors. As for purchasing information sources, three factors (media, human resources, and store) were derived, and adult consumers considered human resources and store information sources more important than media. The main motive for purchasing bags was age and damage of the owned products, and Internet shopping malls were the most common purchasing place. The average annual cost of purchasing bags was 100,000 to 300,000 won, and the frequency of purchase was about once a year. Second, as bag preference images, four factors (individual, romantic, active, and classic image) were derived, and adult consumers preferred classic images the most. The shoulder bag was the most preferred as the bag shape, and black was the most preferred bag color. For the material, natural leather was the most preferred, and for the size, medium size was the most preferred. Third, bag purchasing behaviors and design preferences showed many significant differences according to the sex and age of the consumers. Therefore, the results of this study suggests that bag companies need to establish product development and marketing strategies in consideration of differences according to the sex and age group of adult consumers.