Carl Friedrik Carry-On Evaluate: Effectively-Made Modest Luxurious

With baggage, as with most issues, luxurious is relative. To some, it means you could have a Travelpro Platinum Elite (it is obtained “professional” and “elite” proper there within the title!), 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 like Rimowa—I just like the model’s luxe boho vibe and I like the way in which the aluminum shell picks up somewhat seasoning with each journey. However as somebody who flies almost each month of the 12 months, I am at all times trying to attempt a brand new contender.

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

{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar

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 baggage and wallets. The rolling carry-on was launched in the summertime of 2019, simply earlier than a interval of instability within the journey trade 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 prime of the case.

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

Niklas Mattis, who co-founded the model together with his brother, is targeted on defending the majestic however 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 Frederik 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 somewhat desert scrubland in Santa Fe, the grey polycarbonate shell appears new. That stands in sharp distinction to aluminum suitcases from manufacturers like Rimowa and Tumi that are designed to develop a patina.