The suitcase spent a century as an afterthought;
Away made it a decision. At the
2024 Travelling for Business Awards, the New York-born brand was crowned Winner of Best Luggage Brand, confirmation that the case at the gate has become as considered as anything inside it.
Founded in the mid-2010s, Away rejected the industry's sprawl of near-identical models for a tight, obsessively iterated range. Its hardside cases pair a resilient, flexible polycarbonate shell with an interior compression system that genuinely earns its keep, 360-degree spinner wheels regularly ranked the smoothest in the business, sturdy YKK zippers and TSA-approved locks, while softside lines, expandable Flex construction and an ecosystem of packing cubes, tech organisers and bags fill out the family. A limited lifetime warranty and a lengthy no-quibble trial period underwrite the engineering with unusual confidence.
The
business traveller is the brand's natural constituency. Away's carry-ons are tuned to cabin allowances and the cadence of the short trip, the overnight to Edinburgh, the two-day Frankfurt run, where checked baggage is dead time, and its understated palette reads as professionally in a client lobby as at a beach villa. Direct customer feedback at enormous scale drives each design revision, which is why the cases feel authored by people who fly constantly; London's flagship store among its international retail footprint lets UK buyers kick the wheels before committing. Endorsements from the most demanding independent reviewers have long since become routine.
Judges in 2024 set the challenger against Gomatic's functional minimalism and Samsonite's century of heritage, and found in Away the category's most complete union of design, durability and daily usability.
The brand's retail thoughtfulness extends to the unglamorous aftermath of travel. Replaceable wheels and parts, responsive repair support and the long trial period acknowledge that luggage is judged in year three, not week one, while limited seasonal colours and collaborations keep the range fresh without bloating it. Away sells the case, then stands behind it, a sequence its direct-to-consumer model makes personal in a way wholesale brands struggle to match.
The
Travelling for Business Awards honour the kit that carries working life, and Away's 2024 title crowned the brand that made luggage a pleasure to own, an outcome its founders bet the company on, and travellers ratified one smooth-rolling trip at a time.
