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Starting a brand in travel-product. Help from FF's needed!

Starting a brand in travel-product. Help from FF's needed!

Old Jun 2, 2013, 6:54 am
  #1  
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Starting a brand in travel-product. Help from FF's needed!

My name is Bobby and i am currently in the proces of starting a brand in luxury travel goods. I would first like to say that this is not a thread to sell my products. I am not in that phase of business yet. The reason i started this thread is because Flyertalk.com has an enormous amount of frequent flyers that use travel products on a daily basis and can recommend exactly which features are must-haves on products that are made for frequent traveling.

I have ambitions in starting this brand with products that on one hand look beautiful but are also making your journeys across the world a lot easier. At this moment i think most products that are functional aren't good looking and products that are good looking are not that functional.

The Products which i am developing at the moment are:
- Travel wallet
- Dopp kit
- Laptop bag (which can be put on top of you cabin size luggage)
- Duffle bag

So now my question is:
- Which Features do you miss / hate / like / love on current travel products (any product you use when traveling)


I appreciate all idea's and feedback and would like to thank you all in advance!

Bobby,
Bobby_S is offline  
Old Jun 2, 2013, 9:56 am
  #2  
 
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What brands to you have in mind as competitors? Are you going to try to compete with Valextra, Louis Vuitton, ST du Pont, etc.?

"Luxury" is much-overused, but if you're determined to go there it depends much more on marketing and branding, rather than features.

For example, is Rimowa 'luxury'? It's expensive, but I wouldn't put it in the 'luxury' bracket. For me, 'quality' is a much more attractive, err, quality to aspire to. Actually, what will get me interested is value. I'll happily pay quite considerable sums for luggage, but only if it's good value.

In luggage & accessories I would look for;
  • Organisation
  • Weight
  • Finally, materials
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 1:36 pm
  #3  
 
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You can learn a lot from what other companies already did, good and bad.

Try that. Then you will have to figure out where you want to be placed on the unstable triangle between materials (durability), weight and features. Unstable because if you want good durability and good features, the weight will suffer. One of them has to suffer, you can't have all three.

On features Briggs Riley and Tumi are both very good. I'd give the notch to BR for luggage and to Tumi for briefcases, tied between Tumi and BR for duffles.

On durability BR is already very good. Red OXX is excellent but not great for features and not great for looks. Andiamo Valoroso was the best for materials and also very good on features and quite nice for looks. But they didn't have enough marketing and then went south.

Tom Bihn is a much smarter brand in that regard. Durability is good but no unconditional lifetime warranty, yet some of the features are clever and the looks are pleasing at least to some though I wouldn't call them chic.

Rimowa has some excellent products and excellent service and marketing. However, the wheels on the spinners are indeed fragile (if the best rolling) and the corners of the poly-whatever cases are also weak points. Prices are premium level indeed and I feel at that price point a lifetime warranty is needed. But given that they are German the thought doesn't cross their mind.

I realize you didn't ask for that at all but maybe it helps anyway.

Oh, and if you make a dopp kit, make one that weighs no more than 5 ounces and can be washed or rinsed. Dopp kits are total weight killers for the light traveller.

Duffles and briefcases must have exterior pockets of different sizes. There must be something to quickly slide in a magazine or newspaper. Something for the odd gadget like headphones or sunglasses. And a way to attach them to the extension handles of rolling luggage.

On a duffle the handles are very important. Comfortable carry handles and a good shoulder strap are a must. Look at the Optech straps and their cousins from Tom Bihn. Grab handles on the ends are also an excellent idea. Check out images of the Valoroso VD-25 if you want to see a perfect pocket layout and perfect features, that no one else got right after them.

Wallets should be flat so you don't look like you are wearing a gun when you carry them in your breast pocket. A travel wallet should have a slot for a small and slim pen, always needed to fill out documents or jot down a quick note. RF shielding would be a nice plus if it can be kept thin.

Good luck!

Till
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 2:18 pm
  #4  
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@neverfirst

I consider brands like Ghurka, Travelteq, Smythson, Mismo and Lotuff as close competitors. They all have great looking bags and travel accessories but not all of them quite handy when traveling. We are still thinking and looking for the right niche / audience to target so our brand will jump out.

Because i have experience in marketing and Graphic Design branding will not be an issue. I have not really thought about weight before.

@Tfar great this really is some info i was looking for and i can definitely make us of it!

Very much appreciated!

Bobby,
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Old Jun 2, 2013, 2:38 pm
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The problems with the brands that you mention are:

a. Not all offer unconditional no questions asked lifetime warranty (and at that price point it is a must as far as I am concerned)
b. Not too practical for air travel. Not enough compartments, not enough pockets, not sturdy enough, do not take punishment well enough etc.
c. Not international enough. e.g. Euro wallets are huge (because of the size of the large euro bills) and really impractical for use in the US, unless inside the breast pocket of a jacket. (which is totally impractical for travel)
d. Leather and canvas are heavy. Too heavy for travel. Also they do not like water much. And waterproof canvas weighs a ton.

Hope that helps

Good luck.
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 8:36 am
  #6  
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Several times a year people make posts like this. Graduate students?

If you are actually thinking of starting a new company please refer to success stories like Red Oxx.
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 9:49 am
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Originally Posted by oldpenny16
Several times a year people make posts like this.
like this guy...http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...caddy-bag.html
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 10:54 am
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why don't you just imitate Tumi but offer lifetime warranty? I cannot carry around and stash Ghurka bags underneath airline seats let alone check one of these babies. Even high earning people have budgets and those items are truly for the wealthy who pay cash for first class tickets. I also doubt Ghurka makes any kind of real net income.
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 1:48 pm
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Originally Posted by oldpenny16
Several times a year people make posts like this. Graduate students?

If you are actually thinking of starting a new company please refer to success stories like Red Oxx.
I am indeed a graduate student, but this project is something i have been working on for a few years now. I have already developed a businessbag/laptop bag in leather and a combination of leather and canvas this went in production about 2 months ago. I didn't want to mention this in the opening post as this thread is not meant to sell my products but to gain insight in the needs and wishes.

I am not 100% sure if i am going to choose "Frequent Flyers" as the niche/target group still doing research on this if this is achievable.

Thank you very much all for your contributions!
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 1:54 pm
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Originally Posted by Mellonc
why don't you just imitate Tumi but offer lifetime warranty? I cannot carry around and stash Ghurka bags underneath airline seats let alone check one of these babies. Even high earning people have budgets and those items are truly for the wealthy who pay cash for first class tickets. I also doubt Ghurka makes any kind of real net income.
You have a point there, at the moment we are looking at different materials for a dufflebag / weekendbag to use. We are going to try a canvas/leather duffle and a premium version of 100% leather. The 100% leather version is gonna be expensive 600$+ but we are also looking into nylon type materials in combination with leather details to keep the price down.
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Old Jun 3, 2013, 3:37 pm
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Problem is you are never going to get a good consensus on what the best design is because there are so many different preferences out there. Not everyone travels the same way. The ultimate luxury is, then, customizability. Make it so that your customer can get what they want, how they want, with the looks they want. Either that or you are going to have to get much, much narrower on your niche.
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