Choosing Luggage - Material

How to choose the right luggage material

Investing in durable, high-quality luggage is generally more cost-effective in the long run than buying cheap, flimsy alternatives, which often need to be replaced after a few trips. Cheap luggage frequently suffers from broken zippers, snapped wheels, or cracked shells—particularly when handled roughly by airlines—which can lead to lost, damaged, or stolen personal belongings. Budget options often break within 2-3 years, or even after just one or two trips, we believe in  higher-quality suitcases such as all the ones you find on our website can last a decade or more, and our Goby London range offers their luggage items 5 year international warranties that cover repairs for wheels, handles, and clasps.

It can be complex when purchasing luggage, so we believe in empowering users with the knowledge to make the right choice based on understanding the materials (and features):

Suitcase shell materials vary significantly in durability, weight, and price: 

• Aluminium provides maximum, premium protection, best security (as most don't use zips) and unloaded they can typically be heavier than other material suitcases. Perfect for the business and frequent flyers, investment is made in luggage to last.
• Polycarbonate (also referred to as PC) offers high-strength, is lightweight provides flexibility, and durability, designed to bounce back rather than crack. Most of the bags on our site are of PC material and backed with warranties so you can travel in peace. Great for families and frequent flyers where weight allowance has to be optimised.
• ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is used to lower cost of hard shell cases. ABS, whilst it provides a hard shell for travellers it is very likely to be less durable and prone to cracking easily, and thus reflected in budget friendly prices. ABS based bags are not available on our site.
• Polypropylene (PP) sits between PC and ABS. It provides flexibility is lighter than PC, but also less impact resistant than PC, and far more durable than ABS. Providing a great balanced value for the occasional traveller.
• Fabric Material -  Lightweight, flexible and comes in thousands of designs and colours. Material can range significantly in quality and durability. We only sell Microfibre or Oxford material, that are both premium fabric materials that provide great strength, style, water resistance properties and colours that will last. 

The below provides an overview of the luggage material and what it means.

Ultimately it's your choice and sometimes the design and colour is what does it for you. Hope this guide helps you make a more informed choice.