KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Finding the right bag for your travels isn’t as easy as you think. Neil Varden, founder of CabinZero, a British travel bag brand understands that feeling exactly.
In 1993, he went to India to “discover myself” right after completing university. “The bag I had didn’t work for me. The quality was not good and it fell apart,” said Varden.
During his second trip to India, he got another bag, which was smaller than the one before. The same thing happened. Those bags weren’t cheap but they couldn’t serve the purpose that Varden needed for travelling.
We have all had similar experiences but how many of us use that to start a bag brand?
“Five years ago, I saw that there was this gap in the market for affordable, quality cabin-sized bags. The low cost airline business was growing and these airlines charged for check-in luggage. You had to pay extra if you wanted to check in your bags. I decided then to try and design a range of bags that are perfect for me — something lightweight, in cabin size and of high quality,” said Varden who worked in the IT industry before this.
In 2010, Varden designed as well as developed the ideas, concept and styling. The challenge was finding good factories to produce the bags at a consistent quality and good price.
It was hard to persuade factories initially because he didn’t have a bag-making company. Now, CabinZero bags are manufactured in different factories in China and Vietnam. Varden also has a team and office in China.
CabinZero was officially launched in July 2012. The brand is sold in more than 20 countries, including major airports across the world.
The bags are made of high quality materials and are tested to ensure that they last. All CabinZero bags are made from waterproof and water-resistant materials, YKK zippers and UTX Duraflex buckles. There is a standard 10-year warranty (which can be extended for free to 25 years).
Even better, the bags have a Lost and Found feature, which works this way: each bag comes with a unique tag and code. Once you purchase your CabinZero bag, you register the tag on the Okoban website. The tag tracks the location of your bag whenever you check-in your bag at an airport.
If you lose your bag outside of the airport or elsewhere, finders of the bag can key in the code into the system on the Okoban website and locate you so that they can return the bag to you. Of course, this part of the feature depends on the kindness of strangers! Another reason, Varden decided to make cabin-sized bags was because he didn’t like waiting for check-in luggage. Also, he said he feels stressed carrying so many things. He prefers to travel light because he feels safer that way.
Customers have been asking for CabinZero to make check-in luggage though. “It is not really important to me and honestly I don’t want to do it at all but I might consider it because of customer demand,” he said.
“I’m a lazy traveller. I prefer to spend more time in a place rather than spend a short period of time. I also get ideas when I travel and I enjoy taking my time to explore the place. I always go back to the places I visited anyway,” said Varden.
Malaysian company Private Label Sdn Bhd which owns the multi-label shop Acquire in Bangsar Village II is the distributor of CabinZero bags in Malaysia.
The owners of Acquire, Foong Chooi Hoong and her husband Azmi Merican, contacted Varden about carrying the brand in Malaysia when they came across a brochure of CabinZero. The British embassy was promoting British brands and it happened that CabinZero’s brochures were there.
One of the most popular styles of CabinZero is the Urban Camo print in Military Style. According to Varden, he tries to create different styles for different countries. For example, he might introduce special edition prints just for Malaysia.
Although this British brand is still young, people have begun to copy the designs of the brand. Surprisingly, sales improved after people started copying CabinZero according to Varden.
“We can’t really do anything about it because everywhere other brands are also being copied all the time. What we can do is to come up with more styles. People are able to tell the difference in quality as well,” said Varden.
The majority of CabinZero’s customers are young people because they don’t want the hassle of large bags while travelling. Since they are students, they don’t want to pay extra for check-in luggage either.
“It is not necessary to carry that much. Our bags can also be used as an everyday bag. In Japan, we found out that our customers also use it as a gym bag,” said Varden.
While designing the bags and learning about customer requirements in a bag, Varden discovered that people prefer simplicity, opting for fewer pockets and compartments. Soon, CabinZero will be launching packing cubes for easy packing.
“I test every CabinZero bag and style personally. I’m a difficult person to please. If I’m not happy with the bag, people won’t be happy with it either,” said Varden.
And, why the name CabinZero? Quite simply, Varden explained, it means Cabin sized = Zero hassles. CabinZero bags retail from RM249 to RM429. There are four styles available, the Classic Style, Vintage Style, Mini Style and Military Style in different colours. The Mini Style is new, measuring 42 x 32 x 25cm.
The bags are light, weighing only 800grams on its own. CabinZero bags comes in two sizes, 44 litres and 28 litres.
Head over to www.cabinzero.com to find out more or check it out in person at:
Acquire
2F-23 & 25 (Level 2)
Bangsar Village II
2, Jalan Telawi 1, Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia
Opening hours: 10am-10pm daily
