Gear up for travel time

Function, fashion and design team up in these cool travel accessories

WORDS LAURA GOLDSTEIN

Travel is back with a force. Whether your journey involves planes, trains or automobiles, planning a trip is lots of fun. Add in these travel accessories to create a stylish and less frenetic experience. And then? Get packing!

GET ROLLIN’ WITH KID-FRIENDLY CARRY-ONS

In a galaxy not too far away, kids can travel with Grogu (Baby Yoda).

Samsonite Canada, a 100-year-old company that owns American Tourister, sparks imagination with its PVC-free American Tourister Star Wars Kids 18” Upright carryon.

Always the gold standard for reliability and sturdiness, the luggage company entered the competitive kids’ travel market in 2015.

“Our American Tourister Disney Kids Luggage was built to be fun for kids, but also durable to handle real travel,” says Samsonite brand manager Erin Reynolds, from the company’s headquarters in Stratford, Ontario. “It goes through the same testing as our regular adult luggage. We kept the inside simple with a mesh pocket and cross straps, so it is easy to keep track of items inside, but also stays lightweight.”

It’s big enough to hold toys, clothes and a small light saber.

This kids’ carry-on costs $145.

SAMSONITE.CA/EN/KIDS-LUGGAGE/

WATERPROOF PONCHOS: WHO CAN RESIST A ‘KISS’ IN THE RAIN?

When Dutch entrepreneurs Wessel Buis and his wife Juliska Kiss travelled to Bali, they had to contend with heavy downpours and cheap disposable plastic ponchos to shield them from the rain. That’s when the Rainkiss brand was born.

“The entire concept is to blend sustainable [certified recycled] materials with ethical manufacturing, fashion inspired prints and most of all—fun,” says marketing manager Shane Lakatos, from the Rainkiss studio in Amsterdam. “Our inhouse designers are focused on product development, and they consistently challenge manufacturers with new ways to improve our materials and processes,” he explains.

Originating in Latin America, the poncho is basically a square or rectangle of cloth with a hole cut out in the middle for the head.

“A hood, colourful graphic patterns and sleeves were natural additions to the Rainkiss poncho. As we are based in Amsterdam, the cycling capital of the world, it is an essential part of staying dry in the city,” says Lakatos (incidentally, a Canadian born in Ontario).

Recycled PET bottles are flaked, heated and spooled into fabric to create vivid unisex prints for adults and kids that are 100 per cent waterproof. From designs sporting gigantic black polka dots and pink panther animal prints, and names ranging from Disco Dream and Japanese Blossom to Digi Spring Camo, these ponchos might even make people hope for rain. When dry, they fold up into their own convenient carrying case for easy packing.

With a price tag of $86, they ship free to Canada. RAINKISS.COM