Carl Friedrik Carry-On Review: Well-Made Modest Luxury Leave a comment

With baggage, as with most issues, luxurious is relative. To some, it means you’ve gotten a Travelpro Platinum Elite (it is obtained “professional” and “elite” proper there within the identify!), whereas for others if you happen to’re not rolling a Louis trunk, you are both doing the quiet luxurious factor otherwise you’re a broke boy.

I’m a relative newcomer to the world of very good baggage, having used a Tom Bihn Aeronaut 45 for the previous decade, till my boss knowledgeable me of the existence of Rimowa. It seems I really like Rimowa—I just like the model’s luxe boho vibe, and I really like the way in which the aluminum shell picks up a bit seasoning with each journey. However as somebody who flies almost each month of the yr, I am all the time trying to attempt a brand new contender.

Carl Friedrik is a newish London-based baggage model that makes luggage with distinctive leather-based accents. Its full-size suitcases appropriate for checking run about $800, whereas a rolling carry-on is round $550. Relying in your priors, these costs are prone to strike you as both very affordable or borderline outrageous. I can say solely that it is a very good bag for transporting your belongings.

As Seen On

Carl Friedrik was based in 2012 by two Swedish brothers, and its preliminary focus was on leather-based items, particularly laptop computer luggage and wallets. The rolling carry-on was launched in the summertime of 2019, simply earlier than a interval of instability within the journey business which some readers could recall. Carl Friedrik does most of its enterprise direct-to-consumer, although you will note merchandise on closely curated retail websites like Huckberry. The model’s roots in leather-based items are seen on the carry-on and the model’s different rolling baggage, due to its distinctive and good-looking leather-based handles and a leather-based accent strip across the high of the case.

Carl Friedrik is the form of model that not solely will get itself featured on Succession however makes use of the event to put up an Instagram caption think piece about quiet luxury. (“By its very nature, quiet luxurious aesthetic rejects the vagaries of seasonal vogue, trusting as an alternative in time-honoured design.”)

Niklas Mattis, who cofounded the model together with his brother, is targeted on defending the majestic but critically endangered Amur leopard. That’s all to say that, sure, this model is working diligently to curate a vibe. Efficiently, I might say.

I’ve now used the Carl Friedrik on three journeys since December, having taken it to New York, New Mexico, and San Diego. It has but to let me down, and regardless of being gate-checked on one event and being wheeled throughout a bit desert scrubland in Santa Fe, the grey polycarbonate shell seems to be new. That stands in sharp distinction to aluminum suitcases from manufacturers like Rimowa and Tumi, that are designed to develop a patina.