Sterling Pacific

This is the nearly-perfect carry-on piece. When I have the luxury, I very much prefer buy-it-for-life investments in something I'll use indefinitely rather than contributing to a disposable culture. Yes, it is remarkably expensive. But I should need to buy one except this once.

I travel extensively for work - one to two flights per week. Nearly all of these are regional flights on small aircraft. I used to be sold on the virtual of one-bag travel. Now I'm becoming convinced that two bags is the way to go. All clothing, shoes, etc. go into the suitcase. On small aircraft, it's going to get gate/valet checked. That's where the bombproof nature of the luggage comes in.

The second bag is my personal item, which is a tote. That leads to the one improvement I'd like to see added to this case: a J-hook. Many other top-tier manufacturers build on in for piggy-backing another bag, and it would be a great addition here. I bought one that attached to the handle and confirmed with the good folks at Sterling Pacific that such weight would not damage the handle. It won't.

My office goes in my tote, backpack, whatever and hangs from the J-hook. The lower center of gravity creates incredible balance, and I can roll the pair with a single finger. Placing the other item on top, as some do, distributes the weight incorrectly, in my view.

This is why a two-wheeled design is better than a spinner with four.

This is the only suitcase I could find with an aluminum wheel housing and trolley handle garage. It didn't make sense to me to make the investment and then still have plastic parts external and waiting to be broken or fail. The craftsmanship is stunning. The fit and finish are the best I've seen. The seal is complete. It's a joy to use and has become my trusted travel companion. It will be scratched and dented with time, and those are the elements of patina that I enjoy. It is carefully crafted, well-maintained, and used as intended.

As R. Herz & Bros., a Reno jewellery and watch business that shut down in 2007. At some point in 2009 or later whatever remained of the business was renamed Sterling Pacific, and in 2018 it was purchased by Galton Voysey. In 2021 it set up as a manufacturer of metal suitcases.

Prior to 2021 there is zero presence of this company anywhere in the market, and the sterlingpacific.com website was available on GoDaddy as late as 2019. This is what the company would like to call 113 years of "proudly bearing the Sterling Pacific banner." Currently their published address is most prominently a US Bank location, which apparently also contains a rentable-workspace.

While I have no particular qualms with the product, I am very concerned by this appropriation of history in an attempt to give the brand some gravitas it has not naturally acquired.

Both Sterling Pacific and Galton Voysey seem to be run by Fail. VC, a venture capitalist firm that invests in "ideas so stupid they might just work." Ideas like co-opting an ostensibly unrelated brand's history perhaps?

I communicated my concerns with the company, and while they were quick to correct an error I pointed out on their website, they did not seem to be interested in presenting their history in a more honest manner. So I give the company 1 star so that people who look for this type of review can find it and make their own decision on this company's "est. 1907" claims.

Edit: Sterling Pacific has updated their about page to reflect a more honest version of the events. I'll leave this review up as a record of the original version they used, to help ensure they continue to be honest, and because they continue to use "Est. 1907" prominently.

(Copy of my Trustpilot Review)

I was looking for an aluminum travel/luggage carry-on case and they all looked all the same. I almost with Rimowa, I came across Sterling Pacific's 35L luggage in a search and watched some videos and said, that is the one,the design was so different with the old school vault-like bank case so I ordered one up, shipping was fast. Packed well in bubble wrap and even comes with a cloth cover to protect when storing.

I was a little nervous about the two-wheel design, and how that would work vs the 4-wheel cases that are out there but on a couple of small trips it's been fine. I have yet to lug it thru an airport, but that will be coming soon. I've used it on a couple of trips so far, most recent to Montréal, and it handed it well - The valet complimented on the case when he was loading it onto the cart and said this is a nice suitcase. I easially packed for a 5-day trip and held everything I needed.

I am looking forward to many more trips with my 35L.