I've been a Tumi fan for many years. My first purchase was the forerunner to today's 26141, which I bought in ca 1999 and has done not only countless flights with me, but also been my day-to-day briefcase. It's been for a few repairs (back when Tumi's repair policy was much more generous than it is today) but it is time for a change. It is a little too small, and 15 years have given it some rips and blemishes. So I bought a 26160D4 at a Tumi outlet store a few weeks ago, which I'm very happy with.

But I have a few questions about the current style. Hopefully a Tumi expert can shed some light.

I think of Tumi (Alpha) products in three generations. The original (basic) first, which were matt black with black zipper pulls that had the straight parallel trademark lines, then the redesign in ca 2005 (?) where the zipper pulls became more rounded and were silver grey and more elegant. Finally the current design, back to black zipper pulls, oversized zipper material, and much thinner and 'glossier' material on the handles etc. I never liked the last redesign, and most of my other Tumi products stem from the 'middle' period.

My question is this: the 26160D4 I bought in the outlet has both the 'second' generation zipper material, but with squared off zipper pulls in silver grey with prominent parallel lines, and the more sturdy nylon material for handles, etc. This is not available in the retail stores, nor can I find it online. It's also not older stock. So what is it? A hybrid made only for the outlet stores, for another market? Also, the code 26160D4 does not help much...what does D4 mean?