Away sold a book before it had suitcases.
A pre-sale wrapped in travel content, a $225 carry-on priced against a $525 Tumi, and stores that sell the website.
BLOOM10X did not work with Away. This breakdown uses public sources only, linked below.
- Nov 2015Sells a travel book with a suitcase gift card
- Feb 2016First suitcases ship
- 2018$150M in sales, six stores
- May 2019$1.4B valuation, plans 50 more stores
- 2024–25Wholesale: Dick’s, then Nordstrom and Amazon
- Nov 202616 stores listed on its site
Fast growth, then a slower build.
Five plays behind the growth.
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Pre-sell before the product exists
The first suitcases missed Christmas 2015. Away printed a book of travel stories from 40 writers, artists and photographers, paid them in suitcase gift cards, and sold it in November with a gift card for a suitcase shipping in February (Inc., Jun 2017).
All 1,200 books sold out early and Away landed in close to 100 gift guides.
Copy this: if stock is late, sell a dated pre-order bundled with something people want now, and give it to 20 people with audiences before you announce it.
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Price against the expensive brand
The first carry-on cost $225 with shipping; Forbes compared it with a $525 Tumi (Forbes, Nov 2018). It came with a lifetime guarantee and a 100-day trial (Inc., Jun 2017).
Copy this: name the premium product you replace and put the risk removal (trial, warranty) next to the price.
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Make content about travel, not luggage
By mid-2017 Away ran a podcast, a travel subsite and plans for a print magazine (Inc., Jun 2017). In 2026 its YouTube series Actually Away turns customer-submitted travel stories into short films, and its journal publishes holiday gift guides (awaytravel.com).
Copy this: collect customer stories with one form, then turn the best into short videos you can also run as ads.
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Use stores as billboards for the website
Forbes reported in 2018 that Away’s stores “serve as marketing billboards to drum up online sales.” In 2023 its president said online sales in a market rise 150% after a store opens (Modern Retail, Apr 2023, company figure). Today each product page offers same-day courier delivery from the nearest of 16 stores.
Copy this: test a pop-up in your top online city first, and compare that city’s web sales before and after.
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Collabs and creators, then wholesale
Away had 1,000 influencers posting on Instagram and limited editions with Karlie Kloss, Rashida Jones and Dwyane Wade, whose wine case sold out within weeks (Forbes, Nov 2018). After years of DTC only, it added Dick’s in 2024 and Nordstrom and Amazon in 2025 (WSJ, May 2025).
Copy this: run one limited color or co-branded drop a quarter. Scarcity gives press and creators a reason to post.
How a book became a pre-order.
The pre-sale loop
Sales by year
“It was essentially a preorder with a complimentary book.”
Planned 57 locations, built 16.
Store count vs the 2019 plan
The best-seller’s page, pinned.
- 1$295, or from $26.63 a monthPrice and a pay-over-time line sit under the name; the page carries 13,865 reviews.
- 2Press badge on the photoA Wirecutter “Our Pick 2025” seal sits on the first image, where the eye lands.
- 3Limited edition colorsTwo of 10 colors are marked limited, a small reason to buy now.
- 4PersonalizeMonogramming gets its own button above add to cart; Inc. covered Away’s hand-lettered version in 2017.
- 5Price repeated on the button“Add to cart - $295” removes one more question.
- 6Same-day from the nearest storeThe store network shows up inside the online buy box.
- 7Upsell to the new modelThe $348 Bigger Carry-On 3 sits right under the button; an “Add both” packing-cube set totals $343.
Proof, a podcast and a bundle offer.
“850 hours of testing”
Three emoji bullets of proof, then one line: a suitcase that proved itself before it reaches you. The image is the product alone.
See the ad →“Squeaky wheels. Wobbly wheels.”
Opens on the pain every traveler knows, then answers with a test: wheels rolled for miles and tested for 120 minutes.
See the ad →Run from a podcast’s page
The Roommates Show posts a 45-second event clip tagging @away, with its own link and 10% off a first order. Instagram only.
See the ad →Active US ads matching “awaytravel.com,” Meta Ad Library, Nov 10, 2026: about 96 results. Bundle ads (“20% off bundles”) started Nov 5–6.
How Away’s proof ads are built.
- 1The hook“Squeaky wheels. Wobbly wheels.” or “850 hours of testing.” Either a shared annoyance or a hard number.
- 2The proofA lab-style claim: hours, minutes, simulated travel. No reviews or faces needed.
- 3The productOne suitcase on gray, so the color and shell carry the ad.
- 4The linkStraight to a product page, not the homepage, with a generic “best luggage” description underneath.
Our wireframe, from ads 2266979634092468 and 2295735114501617 in the Meta Ad Library, Nov 10, 2026. Not a copy of either ad.
Customer stories, store tests, stunts.
“We didn’t get into this because of an obsession with luggage but because of an obsession with travel.”
Read it with three caveats.
- Venture money paid for the stores. Away raised $156M in equity by 2019. Rubio said going from $100M to $300M in revenue was “less fun” than zero to $100M (Forbes, Oct 2026).
- Plans slipped. The 50 new stores planned in 2019 became nine net new by 2026, after travel stopped in 2020.
- One purchase every few years. Luggage buyers rarely come back soon, which is why Away keeps adding bags, accessories and new series.
- What we’d change: test one store city against a matched city before signing more leases, and run winning creator clips as partnership ads from day one.
Six moves for a $1M–$10M brand.
- Pre-sell a late launch with a bonus that ships today. Conversion
- Show the press badge and warranty in the buy box. Conversion
- Offer a bundle on the product page to lift order value. Raise AOV
- Lead proof ads with one test number. Hook rate guide
- Run podcast and creator clips as partnership ads. Partnership ads guide
- Check a pop-up pays back on margin before a lease. Margin calculator
Where every number comes from.
- Burt Helm, “How This Company Launched With Zero Products–and Hit $12 Million in First-Year Sales,” Inc., Jun 28, 2017. inc.com
- Diana Ransom, “This $48 Million Luggage Company Has Big Plans for Your Next Trip,” Inc., Jun 12, 2017. inc.com
- Amy Feldman, “Next Billion-Dollar Startups: How Two Young Entrepreneurs Used Relentless Online Marketing To Build Away Into A $700M Luggage Brand,” Forbes, Nov 20, 2018. forbes.com
- “Away is Valued at $1.4 Billion After a Series D Investment of $100 Million,” Away press release, PR Newswire, May 14, 2019. prnewswire.com
- Amy Feldman, “Away Luggage Hits $1.4B Valuation After $100M Fundraise,” Forbes, May 14, 2019. forbes.com
- Anna Hensel, “Away to open its first new retail store since 2021,” Modern Retail, Apr 25, 2023. modernretail.co
- “Away, an Original Internet Darling, Will Sell Its Luggage in More Places,” The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2025 (paywalled; facts from the public summary). wsj.com
- Fiona Riley, “Away Co-Founder Jen Rubio On Why She Stepped Down As CEO,” Forbes, Oct 16, 2026. forbes.com
- Away, homepage, Bigger Carry-On product page, Williamsburg store page and The Away Pages, viewed Nov 10, 2026. awaytravel.com
- Away, official YouTube channel (@away-travel), videos dated Aug 19–Nov 1, 2026. youtube.com
- Meta Ad Library, active US ads matching “awaytravel.com,” viewed Nov 10, 2026. facebook.com/ads/library
