One of the necessary evils of running a magazine, is providing press editorial for product launches. Because my friends, there is no such thing as a free lunch. And interns must be fed.
But sometimes, a product is so sexy, our office jaws hit the floor, and putting pen to paper to tallk about product, which is famously unsexy, becomes sexy. Whatsapps are sent “Can we get one of these, a road test” etc etc.
And the new Alu launch hits that brief.
Now Db is a tough cookie with Spectre – esq levels of PR influence. I saw on Instagram this morning that Vogue Business also did a piece on this launch. Vogue Business! The business end of Conde Nast’s figure publication! How the fuck are we meant to compete with that? Do us a favour and watch the campaign video above, they put a giant suitcase on top of a mountain, and inside put fucking Erling Haaland, a top tier Premier League Footballer to make dare I say slightly smug nuances about how yeah, he’s pretty good but this suitcase is better. The audacity!
I can see smartly turned out Db staff in Gatan 7, near the train station in Stockholm where Db plan their world domination from, rolling their eyes at this.
I’ll continue to type anyway.
I’ve long said, the key to life on the road is good luggage, and over the years Db has always come through with the goods and in a rare moment of sincerity, we thank them for having our backs (quite literally) as we haul cameras, samples and boards across the world. Quite frankly their gear is the best and it looks cool. There it is.
There’s also the question of form vs function, and this is where the Alu launch comes in strong. But first, a story.
Recently, whilst boarding a flight from Tokyo some guy in a suit laughed at my trendy trousers (Adidas x S.F.T.M! Such fabrics!) and then pointed them out to his wife so that she could laugh too. Oh how they giggled at my expense, openly mocking me at gate C24 at 5:58am in front of all the other suits on the way to Frankfurt of all fucking places.
“Look at his trousers, he will never do anything with his life” – they sniggered.
I treated him to a withering glare and a raised eyebrow but I can’t help but feel, had I had a Alu roll on next to me that this would never have happened, because like it or not, life in airports in 2026 is a question of status.
And as a Japanese man in a nightclub in Tokyo before laying down about 2 billion Yen on a bottle of Grey Goose once said to me
“Status is everything”
And shiny luggage, is status. And whilst yes, we’re sure the bag is solid and extremely well built (I mean it’s metal) ultimately; you and I want one because it’s shiny.
Let me illustrate. Picture the scene. You’re flying biz from London to New York, it’s the usual melee at the gate. It’s a Friday morning, your fresh, with no real plans until Monday in Manhattan, you have the whole weekend at hand. You are confident. You are Zen. Your group, group one, is about to be called for boarding. But hey, what’s this? What the fuck is this?
A highly attractive member of the opposite sex catches your eye, she, he or they eye you head to toe before suggestively whispering in a husky voice (think Macy Grey in her prime) leans over and says
“I like your bag”
To which you reply;
“Thank you. The edge frame increases torsional rigidity and adds impact protection by absorbing and redistributing forces during travel. Similar to a body-in-white strategy in automotive design, the structure combines stiffness with controlled deformation to protect the interior and retain geometry. What’s more, a centered frame structure creates a stable spine throughout the luggage. This unique construction improves load distribution, enhances repairability, and preserves the tactile feel of closing the case.”
But you don’t reply that, because you aren’t a fucking idiot. You reply,
“Thank you, can I interest you in a dirty martini?”
So yes, the bag is painstaking engineered quite literally from the wheels up. But do we care? No, we couldn’t give a single flying fuck. Because it’s shiny. It looks fucking cool. Shiny is sexy and sex sells. “No visible exterior rivets” doesn’t sell. No one cares. I have all the faith in world in Db’s engineering and product teams but do I want them hanging around me on a first date in New York talking about robust rivet-less construction? No.
I want them to make cool shiny luggage that makes me look good and they have done just that.
After this, I can see Db either sending one (or many) of these most sexy bags to our office, or coming to our office to give us a piece of their (highly intelligent) minds, followed by a dead leg.
Either way, you know where we live.
WT
Xx
