Elba

Elba

Aluminium luggage, built for the return.

Named after the island that could not hold Napoleon. One black suitcase with a metal shell, a metal frame and two locks, made to come back from every trip.

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The Elba set in black: aluminium suitcase with the head rest travel pillow and the passport holder beside it Suitcase, head rest and passport holder

Armour you can roll.

Nothing on this case is soft. Turn it around and look at how it is put together.

Front of the suitcase: ribbed black aluminium shell with riveted corner guards Lock side of the suitcase: aluminium frame with two combination latches and a side handle Back of the suitcase: telescopic handle housing and side carry handle

Ribbed aluminium shell

The vertical ribs stiffen every panel, so the shell takes the knocks your things would otherwise take.

A frame, not a zip

The two halves close on a metal frame. There is no zipper to split or to cut open.

Two combination locks

Each latch has its own three-digit lock. Set your code once and leave the keys at home.

Riveted corner guards

Corners hit the ground first. All eight are capped in metal and riveted to the shell.

Eight spinner wheels

Four double wheels turn in any direction, so the case rolls upright beside you.

Three ways to carry

A telescopic handle for the terminal, and a top and a side handle for stairs and car boots.

20″ The Elba suitcase, shown at the size you picked

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$149.99

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Europe sent its most powerful man to a small island. Ten months later he walked back into Paris.

That island was Elba. It is where our name comes from, and it is the standard we hold the suitcase to.

Read our story

Ask us about the suitcase.

Orders, sizes and delivery: write to us and we will answer.

hello@elba.example

Shop items.

The suitcase, and the two things that travel with it. Free shipping on everything.

Elba aluminium suitcase, lock side Elba aluminium suitcase, front Elba aluminium suitcase, back

Elba Suitcase

from $149.99

Ribbed aluminium shell in matte black, metal frame with two combination locks, eight spinner wheels. In 20, 24 and 29 inch.

Choose your size

Elba passport holder in black, standing closed Elba passport holder open, showing three card slots and a passport pocket Elba passport holder lying flat Elba passport holder, outside slip pocket

Elba Passport Holder

$19.99

A black stitched cover for your passport, with three card slots inside and a slip pocket on the outside for a boarding pass.

Elba head rest travel pillow in black, seen from an angle Elba head rest travel pillow, front, with snap closure and hanging loop

Elba Head Rest

$29.99

A soft black travel pillow that wraps your neck and snaps shut at the front. The loop hangs it from your suitcase handle.

The island that could not hold him.

Elba is a small island off the coast of Tuscany. In 1814 it was given one job: contain Napoleon Bonaparte. It failed, and that failure is why we chose the name.

The fall

After a decade as the most powerful man in Europe, Napoleon is defeated and gives up the throne of France. The treaty signed at Fontainebleau lets him keep the title of Emperor and hands him a kingdom of one island.

Landing at Portoferraio

He steps ashore on Elba. The man who had commanded armies across a continent now rules an island of about twelve thousand people.

He gets to work

He does not sit still. He builds roads, reorganises the iron mines, reforms how the island is run and keeps a small army and navy in order. Exile becomes preparation.

The departure

He sails from Elba with about a thousand men and lands on the French coast three days later.

Paris

He marches north. The soldiers sent to stop him join him instead, and he enters Paris as Emperor again without a shot fired on the way.

Strength is what you still have after the fall, and what you carry out with you.

The Elba suitcase from behind, handle raised

Why the name fits

To the rest of Europe, Elba was meant to be an ending. To Napoleon it was a place to gather himself, put things in order and leave stronger than he arrived.

A suitcase does the same work on a smaller scale. It holds what matters while you are away, takes the punishment of the journey and comes back in one piece.

Our goal

We want you to buy one suitcase and keep it. That is why ours is aluminium with a metal frame, capped corners and real locks, and why we sell one case we trust in place of a catalogue.

Every dent it collects is a trip it survived.

How Elba started

Elba started from a frustration every traveller knows: zips that split, shells that crack and wheels that give up halfway through a trip. Most luggage is built to be replaced.

We went looking for a case built like equipment and put our name on the one that passed. Then we went looking for a name that meant the same thing, and found it on a map of the Tuscan coast.

Buy from $149.99