SKU 01-60-0007

Grandfather Suitcase

22.00 lb

27.00

19.00

9.00

$1,379.00

The Grandfather Suitcase in Africa

What People Think

5

massive, but gorgeous

It's big and beautiful.
1st Dec 2023
Devin Shields
5

The perfect luggage

First of all, nothing can beat the aesthetics of this suitcase. Second is the build quality which is second to none. Third is the confidence a buyer has purchasing a piece of luggage that has a 100 year warranty. There is nothing out in the market that can match the overall quality of this product. My only wish is it is if it can be offered in a smaller size.
12th Sep 2020
Salvador C.
5

look good

good good good
7th Mar 2019
Forix D.
5

Fun

bizarro.life
7th Mar 2019
Test M.
The leather suitcase is not lightweight, but it's not too heavy either. It has a balance that makes it challenging to fit 50 lbs. (23 kgs) into it. The interior is just one simple wide open space with two interior straps to hold clothes in place.

Design

The leather suitcase was purposefully designed without wheels for 2 reasons.

Aesthetics:
Wheels look bad with this old classic leather suitcase style (Imagine a $15,000 suit with roller skates). However, this is functional art, so you can put it next to your desk or sofa when not traveling.

Longevity:
Wheels on suitcases break or get flat spots on them, making that embarrassing tapping sound when rolling. And then when that happens, the suitcase is finished.

Product Details

100-Year Warranty

Dimensions (W x H x D) 

27" x 19" x 9"

Weight: 18 lbs (Check the weights of like-sized Tumi or Hartmann suitcases; you'll see it is about average.)

The Best Leather We Can Find

This leather suitcase was built entirely with full-grain leather. Here's why that's so important. The leather's grain is on the top of the hide and is the most durable part. The grain helps it age handsomely and stay water resistant (cows are waterproof, right?). 

Most companies buy low quality, heavily scarred-up leather, shave off the scars and blemishes (along with all of the grain) to save as much money as they can by being able to use more of the hide. If they shave off some of the grain, that's top grain leather. If they shave all of it off or split the hide in half, that's called genuine or split leather. We WANT as much grain on our suitcases and other baggage as we can get. We want it all. Therefore, we must select three hides with almost no imperfections to make each leather suitcase. And then, completely unnecessarily, I lined the suitcase interior with tough, durable pigskin.

Functionality

One time, we were taking a two month trip around the world, filming a documentary on the making of our canvas line, Mountainback. We had my wife and I, our two little kids, and our filmmaker, Joe. There were eight full 50 lb. Leather Suitcases and Beast Duffle Bags are packed for cold weather (Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand) and hot weather (Kenya and Rwanda). We also had 2 large carry-ons per person. You can imagine the size of the vehicle we needed to rent to fit all of our things. Well, when we got to Australia, low and behold, they only had tiny little vehicles to rent. This would have stressed out any traveler with lesser luggage, but not us. So I took the two removable belts off our suitcases and strapped most of the luggage to the cute little roof rack.

The suitcase is not lightweight, but it's not too heavy either. It is the right balance to make it challenging to fit 50 lbs. (23 kgs) into it. The interior is just one simple wide open space with two interior straps to hold clothes in place like they used to make them.

Luggage with Real Leather Straps

The leather straps that wrap around and buckle the suitcase closed are full grain leather, just like the rest of the leather suitcase. This is not the cheap fabric or PU (polyurethane) synthetic leather strap that most luggage brands use.

Durability

On the first major trip with my first suitcase, I carried this leather suitcase and my leather briefcase throughout Eastern Europe and North Africa for about 6 weeks. And about 3 weeks into it, the suitcase handle broke. The added complexity and energy exerted made me swear that would never happen to anyone who carried one of my suitcases.

The handle is now bolted onto the leather suitcase and hand-sewn with boot-cord to the body. It is scarce for leather luggage to have this sort of serious consideration, but I wanted you to have the best leather luggage set you can get. Good wasn't enough; great leather luggage takes time to be designed right, then it needs to be used and abused to discover any changes that can make it better. We did that.

There are no breakable parts like zippers, snaps, buttons, etc. Using those is like putting a cardboard hatch on a billion-dollar submarine. Once the hatch breaks, the submarine is worthless. So instead of metal hinges, I designed them with a double layer of full grain leather along the back. And the body is mostly handsewn with heavy-duty waxed boot cord for added strength.

If It Seems To Good To Be True It Probably Is — Except This Time

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Write a Review
  • Posted by Devin Shields on 1st Dec 2023
    5
    massive, but gorgeous
    It's big and beautiful.
  • Posted by Matt L. on 27th Feb 2021
    4
    The good stuff leaks
    This is a great product with not so great packaging. Don’t let the bottle tip over or the good stuff with leak past the cap.
  • Posted by Salvador C. on 12th Sep 2020
    5
    The perfect luggage
    First of all, nothing can beat the aesthetics of this suitcase. Second is the build quality which is second to none. Third is the confidence a buyer has purchasing a piece of luggage that has a 100 year warranty. There is nothing out in the market that can match the overall quality of this product. My only wish is it is if it can be offered in a smaller size.
  • Posted by Forix D. on 7th Mar 2019
    5
    look good
    good good good
  • Posted by Test M. on 7th Mar 2019
    5
    Fun
    bizarro.life