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Away Tries To Bag A Different Kind Of Tourist

 

As the number of vacations travelers take surge to record-breaking levels, Away hopes to win over a new flavor of traveler, introducing an outdoor collection called F.A.R.: For All Routes.

The company is best known for the hard-sided luggage that has become a fixture on airport carousels. It says this adventure into hikey-campy gear is its "most notable product announcement in years."

The New York-based company says the introduction stems from its research indicating that half of travelers expect their post-pandemic trips to be different.

"During the pandemic, the trend of increasing interest in outdoor travel significantly accelerated," said Jen Rubio, co-founder and chief executive officer, in the announcement. With the insight that over half of travelers have a strong desire to reconnect with nature, adventure, and the outside, "we developed F.A.R. to enable our customers, both new and existing, to take more types of trips with Away," added Rubio.

The company says the collection aims to balance the design it’s  best known for with the technical performance of outdoor brands, including such heavyweights as Patagonia, Yeti, Marmot, Osprey and L.L. Bean. With colors that include Atomic Celery and Vivid Blue, the collection contains nine items, from duffels to messengers.

The items go on sale this month through the D2C company's website and its 13 retail stores. To boost interest in those retail locations, it's offering giveaways through Getaway, a company that organizes nature-themed escapes within two hours of major cities.

Americans are expected to spend an astonishing $194 billion on summer travel in 2022, up 26% from last year and 91% higher than the pre-COVID summer of 2019. That jump stems from rising travel costs and "pent-up demand, a wealth of banked vacation days and healthy travel budgets."

When Target reported its quarterly earnings last month, it noted that luggage sales had gained 50%.

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