Iron-on Vinyl Update

Before I made O's backpack this fall, I spent some time searching to see if the iron-on vinyl would be durable enough, but couldn't find much of anything in the way of reviews. Maybe everyone else knew something I didn't, because it hasn't worked out well.  About two weeks after school began, it started pulling away near the zipper.  By November, it looked like this:

I've been giving it regular trims ever since.  Bummer.  Now it has started to peel away all over.  Before the last trim, it looked like this: 

I'm more than a little disappointed. 

Other than that major problem, I've been happy with how the bag has held up.  I did at one point need to pick out the shoulder straps and go back and serge them (should've realized that rip-stop nylon is not fray-stop!), but it's doing well otherwise, even though it looks shabby due to its shedding.  Poor thing.

Anyone have a good source of laminated cottons in boy/gender neutral prints for next year's backpack?  That market seems to be dominated by extreme girliness.