July 30, 2013 |
A new age has arrived. A new era has dawned. Travel as we know it is about to change. It is time to step blinking into the light to worship at the altar of Louis Vuitton and genuflect at the ingenuity of their 4 Wheel Valise. Or, to call it by its proper name, the Silent Drive. “Curvy and aerodynamic, rigorous and refined. Each bag is assembled by hand by a single artisan.” It is the panther of the luggage world. It has stealth to rival that of the magnificent beast. Nobody will be able to hear you coming. Prepare to have your mind blown.
So, admittedly, the concept of putting wheels on bags has been around for a while. Bernard D Sadow did it first in 1970. He came up with the idea when, while waiting at airport customs with two heavy suitcases, he noticed an airport worker rolling a piece of heavy machinery on a wheeled support. He went home, removed the casters from a wardrobe trunk and fitted them onto a large suitcase. He then attached a strap to the front and – eureka – pulled it along the ground. Macy’s started selling it, calling it “the luggage that glides”. Which it did. Then, in 1987, came the Rollaboard. It was invented by Robert Plath, a pilot, who came up with the idea of not only putting wheels on a bag, but having the bag stand upright. Not flat. How? He added a handle. So that you could tilt. And pull. Revolutionary. Well, it was back then.
However, luggage, like all things, must evolve. If it weren’t for evolution we would still be chimpanzees. Chimpanzees do not travel. Nor do they own possessions. Therefore they have no need for luggage. They do not require a suitcase to transport their possessions from place to place. And so, while in 1970 and 1987 the seeds of the revolution were just being sown, the time to reap the rewards has only just come. “The 4 Wheel Valise comes in two sizes, 55 and 70, in Monogram canvas. This is the first piece of LV luggage using thermo printing, a technical breakthrough for a uniform monogram… It is particularly light, despite being hard-sided, and due to the Louis Vuitton metal ball-bearing wheel system, it moves silently. It absorbs shocks because of the elasticity in the canvas… So, no matter how many times you drop it, it will always bounce back!” Which, really, is sort of like us. No matter how many times you drop us we bounce back, too. You could say we were meant for each other. Or that the silent drive was made just for us. Which is more likely. When did you ever hear of humans being made for bags. It will never happen.
by Natalie Dembinska
