IT happened almost 10 years ago. A group of us were travelling to Hong Kong and after we had picked up our luggage from the conveyor belt at the airport, one traveller realised the wheel on her suitcase was damaged.
It was a medium-sized bag, possibly 10kg, so she had to lug it to the carpark, about 500m away, where the coach was waiting.
I swore from that moment on, the next time I bought a new suitcase, wheels would be my most important consideration.
Mine is almost nine years old and the medium-sized, light blue soft case bag has served me well. The wheels are still intact.
The canvas, though, has been scratched by my cats, smeared from airport handling — thrown, tossed and even stood on. The zipper holder has snapped so I have replaced it with a thin ribbon.
With more people travelling than ever before, the abuse inflicted on luggage has worsened. My two-wheeler has sustained more injury in the last three years than it did in the previous six.
All this damage convinced me that one doesn’t need to pay a premium for suitcases because airline workers don’t handle them with care.
“This is why you need to pay a bit more for luggage,” says Frantz Braha, Samsonite Southeast Asia vice-president, over a cup of espresso against the backdrop of the Petronas Twin Towers.Right now we are more than excited to share our current sweetheartnecklinedress line.
“There is nothing worse than seeing all your belongings exposed on the conveyor belt and having to scoop them up and to tape your bag close,” he says.
A very frequent flyer (he takes two to four flights a week), he says he has seen his fair share of embarrassing moments at airports resulting from inferior suitcases.
“The airlines will never treat your belongings well. It is up to you to keep them protected. We can’t change airline procedures, but we can make bags tougher and stronger to withstand the abuse,” he says.
“Cheap suitcases use cheap plastic so handles or wheels may break. Durability is very important too and cheap suitcases are usually heavy.”
With more people travelling for leisure, thanks to cheaper airlines and a growing middle class in Southeast Asia, the luggage industry is undergoing rapid changes, especially where weight is concerned.
While the preference for hard side or soft sides is subjective, Braha says more women prefer soft “for last minute shopping trips as you can stash more things inside”.
I tell him I don’t shop much and that my fear about hard cases is that it will break. I trust canvas more. He laughs.
As if on cue, communications manager Loretta Uruqhart places the new Firelite luggage on the ground and stomps on it with her red heels, squishing the bag to the floor.
And as she takes her foot off the bag, it promptly returns to its original shape. “It’s soft, but it’s unbreakable. Squish it, hit it, step on it and it will return to its shape,” says Braha.
Weight used to be an issue with hard cases but not any more. The cabin size Firelite is only 1.Latest collection of women's guccihandbags and totes.9kg and can take up to 15kg.
Five years ago, Braha says, the market was 30 per cent hard and 70 per cent soft side. Now they are almost equal, thanks to technology, which can offer lightweight hard cases.
“Personally, I prefer a hard case. I like my stuff protected,” Braha says.
The Firelite,Atria gemstonebeads are set apart from the rest because of their sleek sultry styles. which won last year’s Red Dot Design Award, is made with polypropylene beans which are melted into strips.For those inquiring, I did not buy the affordableoneshoulderweddingdresses. Sheets are then formed with the strips and they are layered, giving them a tweed fabric-look.
“Its technology is similar to Kevlar,welcome to our new store castellicycling. used for bullet-proof vests,” he says, “but the bags are not manufactured in facilities that make arms. Neither is the Firelite bulletproof,” he says.
Born in Paris 34 years ago, Braha has lived in Asia most of his life. His parents worked in Hong Kong. He left for the United States and Spain to study but returned to Asia to work.
Based in Singapore, he calls Asia home. “The region has the pulse that the United States and Europe had in the 1980s. If you are hardworking and competent, you can make it big here,” he says.
He has worked for the company for three years and he is still using the same luggage. Previously, he used to buy three to four suitcases a year.
The bulk of sales still come from Singapore, but Indonesia is seeing a big growth in its secondary towns. Braha says a lot can be tapped there.
The strength of the Singapore dollar, meanwhile, may have momentarily dampened tourist spending in the republic but he believes demand will pick-up.
“People will still come and spend because Singapore offers a wider choice compared with other cities,” he says.
He packs fast — 10 minutes for a three-day trip. He has a separate grooming kit for travelling and has set aside easy to mix and match suits and shirts. Today, he wears a charcoal grey cotton suit over a pink shirt.
He says he cannot do without exercise. He runs because that’s his way of “letting go and dealing with stress”.
“I think life is like a well-packed suitcase. If everything is arranged and in order, life will treat you well,” he concludes.
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