Leslie Forde with her prized Kenneth Cole backpack, which can hold her laptop, planner, gadgets and a handbag.
Take a look around any airport and the business travelers are easy to spot — not so much by their wardrobe and gadgets, now that the “wired casual” look has blurred the line between work and play. Their luggage gives them away.
A rolling upright and a computer bag are the working traveler’s typical companions, often stacked for a quick sprint to the gate. But look closer at the carry-ons crossing the concourse, and it is clear that computer bags are getting a makeover.
While boxy black laptop bags are hardly headed for extinction, they are getting some competition from totes, messenger bags and even backpacks. Purely utilitarian designs are giving way to more fashionable looks, as women and young professionals lead a growing demand for stylish bags.
“As much as we sell a functional product, we’re part of the wardrobe,” said Laurence Franklin, chief executive of Tumi, a luggage company best known for its black ballistic nylon laptop cases. But these days, he said, “I think there’s an interest in making the business piece a little bit more fun. Men and women are both conscious of the fact that their business case is as much a part of their image as their apparel, their footwear, their jewelry or their accessories.”
This emphasis on style is evident in details like colorful interior linings, which also make items easier to find, and a wider range of materials, like the waxed cotton used for Jack Spade’s Waxwear Laptop File Case ($445 at jackspade.com). Made from woven cotton soaked in paraffin, the chocolate-colored briefcase is supposed to age like leather and even recover from certain scuffs.
“If you hang it in your bathroom after you’ve taken your shower, the steam will refinish it,” said Matt Singer, a company designer.
With a focus on fashion, more companies are creating products for female travelers that feature more hardware details, lighter materials, subtle patterns and curved silhouettes.
“It used to be that a woman’s briefcase was a man’s briefcase in burgundy,” said Michele Marini Pittenger, president of the Travel Goods Association, an industry trade group. “Now manufacturers are offering entire lines of women’s business cases.”
For instance, Tumi’s Elements Slim Brief ($325 at tumi.com) is a black laptop case made from ballistic nylon, but its curved top, rounded handles and leather trim give it a handbag look.
Although luggage manufacturers say women are embracing wheeled cases more than men and are less likely to choose a backpack, it is tough to generalize about preferences with bags.
Leslie Forde, who works for an Internet company in Boston, says she is so devoted to her black Kenneth Cole backpack that when the zipper broke about two years ago, she had it fixed rather than buy a new bag.
“Even for that week or two when I was without it, I was completely freaking out,” she said, adding that although she looked for a different backpack, “I couldn’t find anything I liked as much.”
The main appeal of her backpack, which she began using after an injury, is that its slightly curved shape looks professional without being too masculine. It can also hold her laptop, papers, planner, assorted gadgets and a small handbag.
These days, transporting an entire mobile office is not rare.
“All of us have so many different devices, and you want to have quick access to them, so there’s a lot more emphasis on organization,” said Peter Cobb, senior vice president of eBags.com, an online luggage retailer.
In fact, manufacturers tend to refer to their bags as business cases these days, recognizing that a computer is just one of many technology products people carry. In addition to a padded sleeve for a laptop, most bags have assorted pockets for BlackBerrys, cellphones, iPods, digital cameras and chargers, often lined with a soft material to prevent scratches.
For designers, one challenge is to make all of these compartments flexible enough to adapt to constantly evolving technology. “We struggle with that, because the footprints change so rapidly,” said Jeff Warde, marketing manager for Case Logic, which makes cases for gadgets and as well as luggage and bags.
Luggage manufacturers are also under pressure to adapt to changing airport security regulations, which can vary depending on the country and threat level.
“The best day for this company would be when we have a standard security protocol around the globe, which we don’t now,” said Quentin Mackay, creative director for Samsonite. For now, Samsonite is designing modular products that can be joined together or detached, depending on whether one or two carry-ons are allowed on the plane.
For instance, the “smart sleeve” on the back of some of its computer cases is a pocket that is open at the top and bottom so the bag can slide over the handle of a rolling upright. And many of Samsonite’s rolling bags have four wheels instead of two. Called “spinners,” they are meant to be more maneuverable, with wheels borrowed from in-line skates.
Removable laptop sleeves are also popular — and can double as padding underneath a computer in an airport security bin. Some manufacturers are even adding pockets on the outside of their rolling uprights to make laptops more accessible for X-ray scans.
At the same time, manufacturers are trying to minimize the weight of their bags.
“Our computer briefs range from about 3 ½ pounds to 4 ½ pounds,” said Jim Lahren, vice president for marketing at Briggs & Riley Travelware, which makes bags for more traditional professionals. “Compared to 10 years ago, that’s at least 1 ½ to 2 pounds lighter.”
That may not make a lot of difference to burdened executives who carry 20 pounds of gear.
Or as Mr. Franklin of Tumi observed, “People are conscious of weight, but in the end it’s what they put in the bag that’s really the determining factor.”
