[1] The first suitcases appeared in the late 19th century due to the increased popularity of mass tourism at the time and were meant to hold dress suits.
Smart suitcases with enhanced capabilities such as GPS tracking and device charging were popularized in the 2010s, though explosions of their lithium ion batteries in cargo holds caused them to be banned from being checked by many major airlines in the late 2010s.
[2][4] German luggage company Rimowa built the first aluminum suitcase, which it started selling in 1950 with a grooved design inspired by the Junkers Ju 52 airplane.
After remarking to his wife that people needed wheels for their luggage, Sadow returned to his factory in Fall River, Massachusetts and attached casters to a suitcase with a strap that allowed him to tow it behind him.
[11] Most department stores, according to him, refused to sell his invention due to a "macho feeling" that men would consider rolling their luggage "wimpy"[7] and that women who travelled would have their husbands around to carry their suitcases for them.
[8] After being turned away by Jack Schwartz, a Macy's buyer, a vice president from the company, Jerry Levy, called Sadow back in for a meeting.
He instructed Schwartz to buy Sadow's suitcases, and Macy's began selling them in stores in October 1970, advertising them as "The Luggage That Glides" and showcasing them with mannequins; they rose in popularity soon thereafter.
[12] It stated that, due to airplanes replacing trains as the primary mode of long-distance travel, "Baggage-handling has become perhaps the biggest single difficulty encountered by an air passenger.
He designed the prototype for the Rollaboard in his garage, screwing a hard-shell bag to a luggage trolley, and started to get ideas from other crew members while carrying it around.
[16] In 1991, Plath left Northwest Airlines to start the luggage company Travelpro in Deerfield Beach, Florida, which initially only sold the product to other flight crews.
[19] He hired a team of sales representatives in 1992, and in the mid-1990s, Travelpro started selling Rollaboards commercially in retail stores, making it a competitor of Samsonite, then the largest American luggage manufacturer.
[3][24] These features include internal tracking, geolocation, fingerprint scanners, device charging, scales, GPS capabilities, touch switches, remote locking, and computer vision, among others.
It published recommendations to its approximately 275 members, including United, JetBlue, and Virgin Atlantic, to put restrictions on smart suitcases with nonremovable batteries in May 2017.