Ita bag advice for beginners?

personally, i got my bag from amazon bc i was having a hard time finding ones big enough to use as a school bag anywhere. it's pretty plain but i was more concerned about size and having the clear pocket ita bags have bc sometimes my pins would fall off on a normal bookbag. there's a lot of small businesses that ita bags have fun designs and color schemes, so if that's something you prefer, def look into kickstarters or etsy sellers.

as for pins and stuff, i think you should just collect what you think is fun! ita bags more or less started off as a way to show off merch to support idols or characters, so they often have merch of one specific person/character or rows of the same pin in the pocket. but you can do whatever you want! i've been collecting pins and keychains for a few years from etsy, ebay, or conventions and i just fit as much as i can in the clear pocket. what i can't fit i put on zippers. here's what mine looks like for reference.

i have a mix of enamel pins, button pins, and keychains. in the clear pocket is an insert for you to take out and put stuff on easily (p sure all ita bags have this). the keychains are held up by safety pins that are on the other side of the insert. it's messy and it's got a couple different fandoms on it, but i love it and i had a lot of fun putting it together.

i've seen others irl that fill the clear pocket with enamel pins or mini plushies not necessarily anime related. pinterest is a good place if you want to see how others did theirs, especially for ones themed after a certain character or series or color scheme. you can really just do whatever with your ita bag if you decide to get into it ^^