Are brand name suitcases worth it?

[HRTQuestions]

I need a new suitcase. Is it worth shelling out for e.g. samsonite, or are the other less known and much cheaper brands just as good? Thinking about wheels or zips breaking, surviving the airport system etc.

The wheels broke off my last two cases, both were a known brand, over 20 years old so no parts available and rarely used in the past 10 years although frequently used pre-DC!

Yes. look at AWAY bag. Mine has a LOT of use/abuse and still good as new hundreds of trips later.

I got a set of 3 Samsonite ultralightweight cases about 15 years ago and have used them loads. They still look like new, the wheels are fine as are the locks. Brilliant cases. In that time my daughter has probably got through 4 or 5 cheaper cases.

We’ve just bought a set of American Tourister cases. DH road tested one on an overnight trip on the Eurostar and said it was good, but I guess the real test will be when we fly in the summer!

Samsonite apparently own AT so the quality is there without the price tag. We bought them from here: www.luggagesuperstore.co.uk/american-tourister/

They’ve also got Samsonite sets reduced: www.luggagesuperstore.co.uk/luggage/luggage-sets/

I used to sell Samsonite and a brand called Carlton don't know if they are still around though. Samsonite are pretty tough but I preceded Carlton, I used to stand on them as a selling feature as to how strong they were, never did with the Samsonite one though. We bought 2 Samsonites from the outlets and they have a couple of years guarantee and I bought a bright orange Antler case that came with a 10 year guarantee I think.
Definitely worth checking the outlets of you have one near by.

Will check them out. Thanks.
Is it still better to go for a hard shell case? I know when the hard shell cases first came out, fabric cases got shredded on the conveyers, but is the fabric they use now more robust and indestructible?

We have a number of Eastpaks.
We had two for about six years and they look new
We just bought another as our girls need a big one each ..
They have a 30 YEAR guarantee ..

eastpak are amazing- much cheaper on amazon than John Lewis

Eastpaks are great, I’m not keen on the hard shell cases. We have a couple of big cases and a couple of small carry on ones and have used them extensively for a few years now, still going strong.

I really like the It brand hard shell cabin bags. I bought one 11yrs ago and apart from a few cosmetic scrapes from being roughly handled it works like new (I often check my bag even though it is a cabin bag). They are very reasonably priced and the inside has all the pockets and dividers you could possibly need.