With summer already here, we know that many of you will be taking trips these next few months. Here are some things to consider when you are shopping for a new piece of luggage for your next trip.
Whether you are looking for a high end piece of luggage that you will use often for years or a low to mid-price range piece of luggage that you will use just a few times a year, you need to be sure that it contains a good quality zipper.
If you travel a lot, your luggage will take a beating when it goes through any airport. A zipper will often break due to abrasion. The thread, which sews the zipper’s teeth onto the tape, will break down when luggage is thrown around a lot on a conveyor belt or on an airplane.
Here are several articles which mention the fact that durable luggage must contain quality zippers.
The article, “How to Make Your Luggage Last,” by Beth Braverman, found on consumerreports.org mentions that when buying a piece of luggage you need to look for a piece with a metal chain zipper, ideally by YKK brand, with two sets of interlocking teeth.
How to Make Your Luggage Last
The process starts with choosing the right kind of luggage, but then you have to maintain it properly. Consumer Reports offers some tips on how to make luggage last.
The article, “What to pack it in: Choosing a Bag” found on onebag.com, agrees that durable luggage contains quality zippers. It says, “The most failure-prone components of a bag are its zippers (replacing broken zippers is by far the most common task at luggage repair facilities.”
“Zippers may be unbiquitous, but they’re far from simple, comprised of individual parts. Without question, the best ones (both chain and coil styles) are manufactured by the privately-held YKK Group.”
https://www.onebag.com/bags.html
The Best Luggage Buying Guide – Consumer Reports found on www.consumerreports.org/cro/luggage/buying-guide says,”A lot can go wrong with a zipper. If it breaks while you are traveling you might have to toss out the bag… A YKK zipper is widely believed in the industry to be the most reliable zipper on the market.”
Luggage Buying Guide
Shopping for luggage? Read about types, features, and other must-know topics in our luggage buying guide to make an informed choice.
“The Best Luggage Zippers” found on bforbag.com/luggage-zippers says, “Luggage zippers tend to be the weakest link where luggage is concerned, as every luggage repair shop around the globe can verify. Moreover, when the suitcase zipper breaks you usually cannot use your luggage, not until you have the zipper replaced or repaired.”
“Most luggage experts consider YKK zippers to be the best luggage zippers available. The Japanese company Yoshida manufactures YKK zippers and you will recognize them when you see them as it says YKK on the zippers pull (just check your trouser zip, there is a good chance it reads YKK.”
Best Luggage Zippers
Luggage zippers tend to be the weakest link where luggage is concerned, as every luggage repair shop around the globe can verify. Moreover, when the suitcase zipper breaks you usually cannot use your luggage, not until you have the zipper replaced or repaired.
The article, “Choosing Luggage by Its Zipper,” found on usaflightinsurance.com states, “To reduce the cost of luggage, many manufacturers are choosing cheaper parts for their bags. The YKK brand of zippers are the most reliable, so look for their logo on the zipper when choosing your next bag.”
The article, “How To Choose Luggage You Will Love” on bottomlineinc.com also concurs that durable luggage contains quality zippers. It states, “The zipper is the part of luggage most likely to fail, so zipper quality is crucial. Choose bags that have two sliders on their main zipper – these can remain usuable even when one slider breaks. Also, look for the letters “YKK” on zipper pulls. YKK Group is the world’s leading zipper maker. A luggage maker that uses non-YKK zippers often is doing so to save money and there’s a good chance that its zippers are of low quality.
How to Choose Luggage You Will Love | Bottom Line Inc
A poorly constructed or poorly selected piece of luggage can take the fun out of traveling. A bad bag can be difficult to maneuver and even can break, leading to unnecessary hassles and costs. Six things to consider when shopping for luggage… * Material.
Finally, TOM BIHN’s website tombihn.com mentions that YKK’s #10 Aquaguard® coil zipper is used in the main compartment of their Aeronaut 45 luggage.
“We use #10 YKK Coil Aquaguard® water-repellent zippers so you needn’t worry so much about bad weather impacting your gear.”
Aeronaut 45
Lifetime Guarantee You can expect your TOM BIHN bag to give you years of hard service. Our bags are guaranteed to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the bag. That means if something goes wrong and it’s our fault, we’ll fix it at no charge.
