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The quest to find the best carry-on luggage shouldn’t be as onerous as the quest to find the perfect vacation destination—Instagrammable, but not, like, too Instagrammable—but it absolutely is. And though vacation destinations might be beholden to ongoing travel restrictions these days (or maybe you’re not comfortable venturing much farther than your own state lines), there are at least infinite options for suitcases. Even the most cursory search for a good carry-on turns up a bewildering mixture of products from established luggage brands to agile fashion houses to venture-capital infused juggernauts. These days, it seems like everyone is trying to sell you a carry-on.
Luckily for you, we love a challenge. We here at GQ have been scanning this wild world of retailers to find the luggage you can comfortably roll up the cobblestone steps of Lisbon, zip-line with through the canopies of Belize, or begrudgingly leave at the gate on the way home for your nephew’s “graduation” from elementary school. We’ve combined our knowledge of the best luggage across a range of prices, styles, and construction types—ones that we’ve taken on planes, trains, and automobiles (but mostly just around Brooklyn in the past year and a half)—to figure out which offer the best combination of solid construction, useful features, and magnificent looks. After all that, here are our top picks that we’d be happy to drag behind and beside us on every single one of our upcoming trips.
Soft vs Hardside Carry On Bags: A Primer
First, a short guide on how to shop for luggage, from indestructible aluminum-shell bags to slightly squishier options that you can squeeze under an airplane seat. Hardside luggage used to be a bit of a novelty. If you had one 15 years ago, it was probably from a luxury brand like Rimowa. You might have been one of the few people in the airport sporting its characteristic sleek shell. It probably made finding your bag at the luggage carousel a lot easier. Since then, as these models started to become available in polycarbonate plastics, as opposed to metal, hardside options become just as ubiquitous as fabric soft shell luggage. If you’ve only ever had one, you might genuinely wonder whether the grass is greener on the other side. The answer to that question, after spending years with both suitcases, is a resounding, confident, maybe.
The main advantage of soft fabric luggage is actually its durability. That might seem counter-intuitive, shouldn’t something with a hard protective shell last longer? But in our experience, with the same amount of use, soft fabric luggage looks more like it did when you bought it than hard shell luggage. Think about it, if you toss a soft fabric cube back and forth against a wall for a year, it might look a little bit busted on the corners, but its stretchy soft surface would probably have absorbed a lot of the impact. If that cube was made with thin hard plastic, you’ll probably see a bump mark or nick in the paint basically anywhere that hit the wall.
That said, basically every piece of fabric luggage (save for the super expensive models from luxury brands) leave a lot to be desired aesthetically. Even when they’re new, pulling a fabric suitcase behind you makes you look, at best, like someone who knows their way around a day planner. At worst, especially when they’re covered in all sorts of metal rivets and extra zippers, they can look dinky—the tuxedo t-shirt of things to put your clothes in.
Hard shell luggage almost always looks much better than soft shell luggage. Their glossy shells catch the light really nicely, as they float alongside you as you glide through the terminal to your gate. And in recent years, companies have gotten a lot better at making them. The models you buy today aren’t quite as durable as fabric ones, but they’re almost there.
Fabric luggage does have one other advantage over hard shell. Thanks to their stretchiness, soft suitcases tend to be a little bit more accommodating to over-packers, while still maintaining the same carry-on size. You’ll find it a little bit easier to actually zip them shut, even when they’re filled to the brim with extra pairs of underwear. Hard shell suitcases have a lot less give in terms of packing space, which makes them unideal for anyone that tends to accumulate tokens of your trip. This isn’t often a big enough problem to be a dealbreaker, but it’s something to consider.
The Best Overall Carry-On Luggage: TravelPro Platinum Elite
The TravelPro Platinum Elite suitcase offers the best value of any suitcase we’ve tested. The case’s cavernous interior includes tons of weird little zippered sections and mesh pockets for you to cordon off your toiletries, small items, dirty clothes, and shoes from your clothes. If you have a suit you want to pack, the case comes with a suit bag you can fold and drop into its top area, which will minimize any wrinkling. Plus, the Platinum Elite has a limited lifetime warranty that covers any defects in its handle, zippers, or wheels. The one ding against the TravelPro is its humdrum looks, which evoke the carpeting of one of the airports you’re going to drag it through. But that hasn’t kept it from becoming a favorite of the kind of people that travel a ton. If the TravelPro logo looks familiar, that’s probably because you’ve seen it on the luggage of the flight attendants and pilots that spend most of their lives in the sky.
The Best Hard Shell Luggage: Arlo Skye “The Zipper” carry-on
The Arlo Skye Zipper carry-on is our favorite hard-shell suitcase for a couple reasons. The bag’s polycarbonate exterior isn’t as hearty as the fabric on the TravelPro or the aluminum of a Rimowa, say, but we found the suitcase a bit more capable of withstanding regular use than other hard-shelled suitcases we’ve tested. All of Arlo Skye’s carry-on sized suitcases have internal pockets that make them easy to pack, including a few zippered areas for dirty clothes and shoes. The company also makes a version with an easy access front pocket, presumably for a laptop or magazines, but we’d imagine you’d rather keep those things in a backpack or tote than in the suitcase you have to put in an overhead bin. Like the luggage from Away (more on that below), Arlo Skye’s luggage features a removable external charger. But while the one on the Away can only juice up your phone, you can use the battery included with the Arlo Skye luggage to charge a laptop.
For the Budget Conscious Menswear Bro: Horizn Studios H5 essential cabin case
Listen, we’re all for splurging on some baller luggage when appropriate. (Clearly.) But sometimes you need a suitcase that will securely get you from point A to point B—and look good doing it—but won’t call for you dropping well over a G. Enter this stealthy, blacked-out carry-on. It’s made out of a scarily durable polycarbonate, lined with water-resistant nylon, and comes with 360-degree spinner wheels and a four-stage telescopic handle—all at a price that belies how methodically designed it is. Traveling on a budget this summer? Buy this and spend the cash you save on a better AirBnB.
For People Who Want to Own DTC Everything: Away The Carry-On
There are plenty of good reasons why the Away team has just about upended the luggage industry since it launched. Instagram-ready looks? Check. Durable shell? Check. Smooth wheels, top and side handles, clothes straps, a mesh zip pocket, a laundry bag, and—maybe most game-changing of all—a built-in USB charger so you don’t have to screw around with airport outlets? Yeah, check. At just over two hundred bucks and with a range of handsome, low-key colorways (we like the navy), Away’s carry-on means you don’t have to choose between getting something cheap and ugly and spending a rent check on something luxe. And for an industry that never really did the low-to-mid-tier thing well, that’s a very welcome change of pace.
The Last Carry-On You’ll Ever Buy: Moncler Genius x Rimowa reflection silver suitcase
Rimowa, the storied German luggage company founded in the late 1800s, has been on something of a collaborative spree. Few have yielded better results though than the suitcase the brand cooked up with the Italian skiwear gods at Moncler, which sees Rimowa’s iconic aluminum suitcase polished to a mirror-like sheen. The futuristic spinner the duo released through Moncler’s “Genius” program comes packed with the sort of details that made Rimowa a powerhouse in the luggage space for over a century: A single-stage telescoping handle, a hinged double latch lock by the main compartment, elastic compression straps with magnetic pull-release fastenings, the works. If you’ve ever been stuck traveling with a lackluster piece of luggage and thought, Man, I wish my suitcase could do that, chances are Rimowa’s can, and masterfully.
For Lovers of Luxury: Prada logo spinner suitcase
These days, there’s a lot more to luggage shopping than choosing from the same old selection of black nylon options. The industry’s evolved by leaps and bounds since the family vacations of your youth, and there’s a hell of a lot of choices out there. So if you are going to go the black nylon route, best to travel with Prada, the cerebral fashion-fan favorite that made the material a signature of its brand in the ’80s and hasn’t let up since. The brand’s leather and nylon suitcase boasts an adjustable top handle, four wheels at the base, and plenty of zip fastenings to help you securely store all your other fancy gear. Is it pricey? Yes. But it’s also sleek, durable, and packs just the right amount of designer pizzazz for a suitcase you’ll always be stoked to see rolling down the conveyor belt at baggage claim.
The Ultimate Travel Flex: Brunello Cucinelli leather carry-on suitcase
If you only know of Brunello Cucinelli through the label’s ultra-soft cashmere—all milled in Solomeo, the scenic Italian hamlet the company calls home—you’re missing out. The ruminative designer makes far more than knitwear. Case in point: This classic carry-on, a handsome leather spinner that says, “I don’t usually fly commercial, but when I do I always fly first class.”
The Streamlined Duffle For Short and Long Trips: Porter-Yoshida & Co Tanker 2Way Boston nylon duffle bag
Calling the team at Porter-Yoshida & Co luggage experts is a bit of an understatement. They’re bona fide obsessives. Since the ’60s, the Japanese brand has painstakingly crafted military-inspired bags designed to last. This one, done up in a sleek black nylon and lined in hi-vis orange, takes its cues from the US Air Force’s legendary MA-1 jacket, but will help you travel like you’re a megawatt celebrity in 1996.
The Convertible Travel Backpack: Patagonia black hole duffel bag
Remember that hapless kid in fifth grade the whole class mocked for showing up with a rolling backpack the first day of school? (People don’t forget!) Well, if you still holding onto some secondhand trauma from the incident, Patagonia’s streamlined duffel might be good enough to risk straining your back to carry. The body fabric, lining, and webbing are all made out of water-resistant recycled materials designed to keep your valuables dry, while two padded straps make for an easy switch if you’d rather sling it over your shoulders like a carry-on backpack. Jokes aside, the bag’s handles are also specially reinforced to make for comfortable hand-carrying so your lower vertebrae will hold up fine no matter how far your terminal is from the gate. With all due respect to your childhood classmate (who you definitely owe an apology), sometimes carrying your bag just looks cooler than wheeling it around.
