College Luggage Branded Suitcases

College Luggage Branded Suitcases –

One of the side effects of working at a travel website is that even when I’m at the airport headed somewhere on vacation, I’m still kind of in work mode. Which is one of the reasons I’ve taken to wearing my company’s logo T-shirt whenever I fly. Not only that, I’ve got my company’s logo luggage tag strapped to my bag as well.

But nothing prepared me for the fun factor of seeing the company logo embroidered right onto a suitcase.

The folks at College Luggage offered to send us a sample to show us what they do, but we really weren’t expecting it to look as great as it does. As the name of the website implies, their focus is on putting school logos on bags. Since I didn’t go to a big school myself, I can’t say I’d be overly excited about getting my alma mater’s logo embroidered onto a suitcase. But if I’d gone to a school with an annual enrollment of more than 1,500 people, I might not only think it was fun to advertise but I can totally see how it would be a great way to break the ice and meet other people in the otherwise potentially-anonymous setting of an airport.

Think about it – you’re waiting at your gate and you see someone else with a bag embroidered with the logo of the school you went to. Or, for that matter, of your alma mater’s biggest rival. What a great opening to strike up a conversation, right?

But obviously College Luggage goes beyond just college logos, as evidenced by the cool BootsnAll-branded bag they sent us. It was as simple as sending them a logo via email, and voila! The bag arrived looking fancy and professional. It’s a big hit around the office, and the people who saw it when I traveled with it recently all said, “I want a suitcase with my logo on it!” Yes, I think College Luggage is onto something.

The Quick & Dirty:
Where you can get them:
College Luggage embroidered Victorinox/Swiss Army bags

Why they rock:
As stated above, they’re an excellent ice-breaker if you do get a logo embroiedered from the university you went to, but they’re also fantastic for proudly showing off your logo no matter what it’s from.

A few notes about the suitcase we got as a sample, the Victorinox/Swiss Army WT-22:

• The dimensions of the bag are listed as 14″W x 22″H x 10.5″D, although when I measured it was more like 24″H – which was the height limit for the airline I was flying. If it was actually 22″H that would have made it easier to fit in the overhead bin.
• It’s expandable, if you don’t plan to carry it on the plane or the airline you’re flying allows for thicker bags, to 13″D – handy for carrying souvenirs home.
• The interior of the bag is roomy and even though it’s technically a soft-sided suitcase it feels very sturdy and protective of what’s inside.
• There’s a removable fold-up packet that attaches to the inside of the suitcase lid and has padded strips at the folds which, I believe, is meant to store stuff on hangers like suit coats or dresses – but I couldn’t figure out how to get them in there with the hangers so that you could just remove the whole packet and hang it in the hotel closet. But maybe that’s just me. The tag that came with the suitcase says it can secure “up to 4 hangers.”
• The wheels roll beautifully, there’s no other way to say it – the thing just glides along.
• I love the bag-hanging gizmos that come out of the front pockets – they’re straps that let you hang a second bag (laptop bag, purse, shopping bag, etc.) from the roller-bag securely.
• The retractable handle for pulling the bag is one pipe rather than two parallel ones, which did seem a bit sturdier to me. The handle itself can also be rotated to whichever way is most comfortable for you to hold it.

As far as I’m concerned, the only downside of the bag is that – even though it’s definitely on the light side for a sturdy carry-on – it’s still heavier than I prefer my carry-on bags to be. Once it’s loaded with stuff, it’s not as easy to lift into the overhead bin when you’re as short as I am. If you’re a taller person or usually travel with someone who does the lifting for you, then you should have nothing to worry about.

But beyond the bag itself, by far the coolest thing about the sample we got was the embroidered logo on the front. Because, after all, that’s what College Luggage is all about. The embroidery is for real, not some iron-on that’ll come off after a couple trips – you open the front zip pocket and you see the back of the logo. I love the way it looks, and I think you’ll be equally as pleased no matter what logo you choose to put on your bag.

Seat-of-the-pants rating: 8.5 out of 10

My main complaint with this bag is its weight even when empty, but as I said above – for as sturdy as it is, it’s still a fairly lightweight carry-on. I do think College Luggage would be even better if they had more bags to choose from and you weren’t limited to just Victorinox/Swiss Army brand bags, because there are lighter bags out there that I’d prefer personally but would still love to have the company logo on.

There are a variety of Victorinox/Swiss Army bags available on the College Luggage site, however, from carry-on size right on up. You need to choose a school from the menu to see what bags are available, but if you wanted a logo other than one of the schools listed you’d have to contact them instead.

Consider the possibilities – not only is getting a logo-emblazoned bag a way to treat yourself, it’s also a fun gift idea for family, co-workers, employees, clients, etc. Tempting, isn’t it?

Looking to buy? Here’s where you can get ’em:
College Luggage embroidered Victorinox/Swiss Army bags

Review by Jessica Spiegel, BootsnAll staff writer and author of the Italy Travel Guide