Zippers are the worst part of carry-ons. They jam. They break. And if you're using a soft bag, they encourage you to overpack, which makes it nigh-impossible to quickly and easily open your bag to get something when you need it.
The zipper in luggage? It just needs to die. And we hope the Trunkster is the luggage design that kills it. Now on Kickstarter, it's a hard suitcase with a zipperless entry system that lets you open and close your luggage with a sliding door, which works just like a steel grate.
Trunkster also has the whole gaggle of gadgetry that today's cutting-edge suitcases tend to have: a built-in battery and USB port to charge your gadgets on the go, an internal GPS unit to tell you where the heck your luggage ended up when it doesn't come out on the conveyor belt at the end of your flight, and a digital scale that allows the Trunkster to weigh itself, helping you avoid troublesome baggage overfeed.
That's all great, but for me, it's the analog details of the Trunkster that make it worth packing. The sliding door allows you to easily access your belongings, and built-in compression handles let you pack your stuff down with just a flick of a lever.
Everyone should own an excellent piece of luggage, and while I can't personally vouch for the Trunkster, this bag ticks off all the boxes I'd personally look for in a bag. You can pre-order one now on Kickstarter starting at $255 for a carry-on, and $245 for a checked model, here. And in other news, how sad is it that we live in a travel culture where a larger bag costs less because no one checks luggage anymore?