The Parker Leather Rolling Suitcase
Moore + Giles on the design challenges of a quality leather carry-on
Selling for $1,595 (the brand’s priciest travel bag offering yet), Moore + Giles‘ first-ever carry-on suitcase is an investment piece geared toward uncompromising travelers and commuters (for smaller budgets, we’d recommend the new Raden smart luggage line). With a nod to steamer trunks of the past, the Parker case grabs the eye, as it’s not often you see luxurious leather—here it’s their Italian-tanned Baldwin oak—rolling on wheels. This is because it’s not easy to make, explains design director Thomas Brennan.
“Getting a leather bag to look sophisticated and clean—no raw edges, even seams, tight stitching—requires a defter touch than zipping soft, pliable fabric through a sewing machine or stamping out identical plastic shells. The material by itself requires consideration and skill that other materials do not,” Brennan tells CH. “The design process for the rolling suitcase included working around elements we don’t have in the rest of the line: metal frames, integrated handles, a quartet of wheels. Additionally, airlines have weight and size requirements—leather weighs more than plastic and is harder to manipulate than fabric. Every single one of these challenges needed to be balanced against design that ensured the bag would be an organizational asset to a traveller, not just a simple, handsome accessory. The result is a case whose visual simplicity masks internal complexity.” He adds that traditional fabric-clad or plastic hardshell cases age poorly, showing scuffs, cracks and ending up threadbare. “Leather ages in the opposite direction, getting better and more handsome as it breaks in,” he says, meaning like a good suitcase, it should be used often and not only for special occasions.
Find the Parker suitcase and other leather travel bags online at Moore & Giles.
Images courtesy of Moore & Giles
