Jessica Schinazi, CEO Away
We Built This Company Around A Simple Question—And We Still Run It That Way Today.
When Away was founded, the question wasn't "What's missing in the luggage market?" It was something more personal: Why does it feel like travel products are designed by people who don’t travel?
That sounds simple, but it changes every decision we make. The person designing wheels that hold up on rough streets has hauled a suitcase over cobblestones at midnight. They know exactly what frustration feels like in a terminal that smells like airport coffee at 6 a.m.
That orientation—products designed for travelers, by travelers—is our North Star. As we grow, my focus is always ensuring that our uncompromising standards never become a tagline, but remain our baseline.
THE LITMUS TEST
The travel industry often runs on aspiration, the beautiful photo, the perfect destination, the idea of the person you'll be when you get there. We’re part of that world, and I’m not naive about that. But the real test isn’t how your trip looks in a photo. It’s whether your luggage holds up when things don’t go as planned.
At Away, we talk a lot about quality—and we should, it's non-negotiable. We also talk about integrity just as much. Does the suitcase hold up? How does it perform on its 50th trip compared to its first? Can it be checked without anxiety? Everything we build is measured against that standard.
-
ENGINEERING FOR THE OVERHEAD BIN
Many brands can make a suitcase that looks good on a shelf. We design for the long haul. Our Signature High-Impact Shells are built with engineering-grade polycarbonate specifically because it flexes under impact instead of cracking. We use LockStep Performance Zippers, because they’re designed to be highly dependable and resist snagging when you’re packed full. They cost us more. We use them because they’re the best. When Consumer Reports hit our Carry-On with a 17-pound metal hammer, twice, it earned an Excellent rating for impact resistance. We don’t just hope it works; we prove it works. We put every luggage design through our proprietary AXT™ Performance Testing standard, which consists of more than 80 durability and quality tests and more than 850 hours of real-world travel simulation. It's one reason Wirecutter and independent reviewers have consistently ranked our products among the best in their respective categories. -
A HUMAN STANDARD OF CARE
Our retail and customer experience teams are an extension of how we build our products, carrying the same uncompromising standards into every interaction. In our stores, that means helping travelers find the right luggage for how they actually move, not just what looks good on a shelf. And when something goes wrong, our support teams focus on solving the problem, not following a script. Standing behind what we make means making it right. We believe a premium product should come with thoughtful, human support, especially when you’re far from home and need a real answer, not a runaround. -
RELIABILITY IS OUR BEST INVESTMENT
We’ve never been interested in shaving costs to win a short-term price war. We invest in materials and testing that keep our products in motion for years to come. We don’t believe in a buy-and-replace model—we design for durability, not disposability. We build for the person who takes their luggage everywhere—across trips, moves, and milestones—and expects it to hold up every time. That kind of consistency earns trust. And over time, that trust turns into something bigger. Customers come back, not because they have to, but because they know what to expect from us. That’s how you build real community. Not through transactions, but through products that do what they’re supposed to, again and again. Our priorities are simple: make great products and take care of the people who use them. Everything else follows.
THE LONG GAME
I came to Away because this brand has something rare: a real connection with customers, built on products that do what they’re supposed to do. Our co-founder, Jen Rubio, started Away with a clear point of view: solve real travel problems, make things that last, and design them beautifully. That idea still holds.
As we grow into new categories, new markets, and new ways of traveling, my focus is making sure we don’t lose that. The standard doesn’t change. We go back to the same question: does this make the experience better for the person using it? The real one, on a real trip, with luggage they’re counting on.
The difference between saying you care about quality and actually delivering it comes down to the decisions you make every day. We can point to ours. What matters most is whether the product holds up when it’s actually used. That’s the version of Away we’re building, the one that shows up at baggage claim, trip after trip.