Like our universe, the list of direct-to-consumer brands selling luggage is seemingly ever-expanding and accelerating.
Yet, Canada-based Monos will always garner respect among those who closely follow the luggage industry as one of the first brands to popularize so-called “hybrid luggage.”
The concept was simple.
Every type of hard-sided luggage has strengths and weaknesses. Polycarbonate is cheap, lightweight, and resists denting, albeit at the expense of rigidity. Aluminum luggage offers the ultimate protection and looks incredible, but it also tends to show wear quickly, weighs more than plastic, and offers zero give, limiting how much travelers can stuff inside.
But what if there was a hard-sided suitcase that combined the best elements of both styles? Monos’ hybrid suitcase leaned on this clever idea by color-matching a hard polycarbonate shell to a zipperless aluminum frame and anodized aluminum corner guards. The result was a suitcase that looked like a traditional aluminum suitcase while costing much less.
That’s why we decided to call it the best affordable “aluminum” luggage option in our aluminum luggage buying guide, while also cheekily acknowledging its imposter status.
However, the company’s brand-new line of aluminum luggage finally offers everything you’d expect from an actual aluminum hard-sided suitcase at prices less than half of those of competing luxury options.
And while we’ve yet to test it, the new line could finally wind up earning the title of best affordable aluminum suitcase outright on a fair and square basis.
