Boogie711

I own both the AirBoss and the Gate 8... and my overwhelming preference for suits and business gear is the Gate8.

It WILL pass inspection on any carry-on sizer out there. In fact, their site guarantees it. I don't suspect you'd have a major issue with a second personal item hooked over the handle on top. You may want to keep an eye on it, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it.

And for the record, I'm 6'4" with size 13 shoes, and use it all the time. The secret is to ditch the mesh pockets near the shoulders and put your shoes up there.

sfmom

The Gate8 is still enticing even if I didn't use the garment option because it seems like it would hold the most while having wheels and being compliant. I could get large cubes for the suit, a sleeve for his shirts for the middle, a spot for his shoes, laptop plus room for toiletries and maybe chargers. My hesitation is we have been using the 116 for our business trips, which have largely been domestic, so this is a little duplicative. Normally he would wear his shoes and skip the jacket, but I know he isn't going to want to run around in his dress shoes amid all our leisure traveling. Plus think he'd want to keep it dressed up in Japan. Decisions...

Cargojon

I looked long and hard at the Gate8 prior to buying my travelpro. Biggest downside to me was having to remove the laptop bag portion in order to slide on top of a larger wheeled bag. To me that kind of killed it, but for your purposes it might not be as big a deal.

nw6338

Suggestion: The Refractor Duffel from The North Face. Can buy from TNF online.

http://www.trekkinn.com/outdoor-moun...lack/1113327/p

Looks great and business appropriate in black. It is basically a backpack that has all of the essential carry on bag features- laptop, chargers, pens, documents, etc. However the bag also has a duffel compartment where your husband could put his casual clothes or shoes. Extremely durable and functional. Your husband could carry this + a garment bag for suits and shirts and be all set.

lostinohio

If he has business meetings, does he need to be carrying a laptop and other meeting materials? If so, you might want to focus on a personal item that is good for carrying the computer and a few casual items of clothing. I don't have a briefcase/personal time that does that well, but I'm sure some one on this board can recommend something.

I've never seen a Gate8 bag in person, but I've loved my MEI Executive Overnighter. I'm 6'2, 210 with size 12 dress shoes and I can easily fit a bundle with underwear, a couple of dress shirts, a Men's size 44 Long suit and the dress shoes with socks inside in the largest pocket of the MEI Executive Overnighter. It would be very easy to then use the middle compartment for casual clothes (if you place clothes in all three compartments the bag can swell to be a tough fit in sizers). The options for backpack and shoulder strap carry give you multiple ways to carry it long distances. The molded plastic handle, while not the prettiest solution, is very comfortable for carrying the bag with one hand when necessary.

I've found the suits come out just fine with the bundle packing and if I'm careful in folding no-iron dress shirts into the bundle they only occasionally need ironing if I hang them in the bathroom and take a shower first.

sfmom

Both the duffel and the MEI look great (my husband is size 12 and a 40L). They're basically like our Aeronaut, but with better business configurations. The Aeronaut is not great with laptops - I'm using it that way on this trip - but if I was to get another backpack convertible it would maybe be the Aeronaut 30. Or maybe something similar to the MEI but smaller so it fits under seat.

I might do differently if we were starting from scratch, but given we already have luggage I'm trying to find things that fill holes. We definitely need a traditional backpack for hiking trips, amusement parks, etc.

Our little Briggs and Riley 116 has basically served our needs for domestic business travel, though I have had to really stuff it in cold weather months. I love that it never ever has to be checked - I have definitely been in situations where anything else would have been.

Still away but looking forward to trying to pack husband's stuff in our existing Briggs and the Lojel. Will report the results.

sfmom

So the suit and shoes would fit in the B&R, but there's no room for anything else. I can put them in the Lojel and still have some room for other items.

I'm now leaning against the Rimowa primarily because it is over 1" thinner than the Lojel, and his shoes are pushing it already. Plus I know my husband won't like the one handle (as he likes stacking).

For personal item, the Smart Alec would be more practical than the Synapse 25, but for general everyday use I think he'd prefer the organizational abilities of the 25.

So my tentative solution is another Lojel plus the Synapse 25, plus a number of organizational packing cubes.

The problem with this solution is there's no case for him to bring in papers/Surface Pro to meetings. Working on that one.

Buster

Can he get away with wearing the same shoes for leisure and business? My husband also has size 13 feet and quite frankly, his shoes always end up taking up most of his bag. Our last trip, he needed to wear a suit and go into the office, so I bought him a pair of Clarks that were comfortable enough for everyday wear with jeans, etc., but that were also nice enough to wear with a suit. It saved him having to bring 2 different pairs of shoes.

On the carryon front, I bought him an Eagle Creek EC Adventure Weekender bag in black. It's got a good bit of capacity, and when emptied out, it's plain black and works to put papers, laptop, etc. to go to the office. The weekender is also designed to work with Eagle Creek packing cubes & folders, so it's a nice little system for other trips.