Make It Yours: How to Style and Personalize Your Away Series 3

Stand at any baggage carousel long enough and you'll see it: a slow parade of nearly identical hardside bags, all the same size, all the same shade of black or navy, all circling past at the same speed. It's a side effect of getting something right — after 1 million+ suitcases sold in the last 10 years, there's a good chance a few other bags on that belt look exactly like yours. You spot the one that might be yours, hesitate, check the tag, hesitate again. It's a small, familiar moment of travel — and it's exactly the moment Away Series 3 was designed to solve.

The new exterior D-ring gives you a dedicated place to make your suitcase unmistakably yours — no rigged-up straps, no ribbon tied to the handle, no guessing. Here's how it works, and a few ways to put it to use.

Designed for Detail: The Away Series 3 Hardware D-Ring

The D-ring is built directly into the top carry handle — a sturdy metal anchor loop that replaces the makeshift straps and zip-ties travelers have used for years to hang a tag or a charm. Because it's a fixed point rather than an add-on, your charms and tags hang cleanly and stay out of the way when you reach for the handle to lift your suitcase off the belt.

It's a small piece of hardware, but it's built to hold up: the D-ring goes through Away's standard durability testing for metal components, including salt spray, pull, and jerk testing, so it's designed to handle daily wear rather than loosen or corrode after a few trips.

The idea behind it is simple. A suitcase should still look and feel like yours after the tenth flight, not just the first — and a dedicated anchor point is a more durable way to get there than a strap that was never meant to last.

3 Ways to Style Your Series 3 Suitcase

Personalizing your suitcase doesn't mean redesigning it. The D-ring is a small addition with a lot of range — here are three ways travelers are already using it.

Travel Charms and Keepsakes: A bag charm or keychain from Away's luggage tags and charms collection clipped onto the D-ring is one of the simplest ways to help your suitcase stand out at baggage claim. The collection spans a range of colors and styles, so it's easy to find one that turns a case that otherwise looks like everyone else's into one you'd know from across the terminal.

Two new additions bring some whimsy to the mix. The Micro Carry-On Charm is a tiny, faithful replica of Away's own carry-on, right down to pivoting, translucent shell covers over a working interior sized for small personal items. The Plane Charm is a detachable paper-airplane charm in leather, finished with wrapped leather cording, a metal key clip, and a small Away charm detail — a lighter, more playful way to mark a bag as yours.

Monogrammed Luggage Tags: A sleek leather ID tag looped directly onto the hardware anchor is the most functional version of personalization — it's still doing its job (keeping your name and contact information with your bag, tucked under a privacy flap) while looking considered rather than improvised. Away's The Luggage Tag comes in eight core colors and can be personalized with up to three initials, so you can match your Series 3 shell or go for contrast. Prefer to rep your school instead of your initials? Away's officially licensed Collegiate Luggage Tag — shown here in University of Michigan colors, with dozens of other schools available — hangs from the same D-ring. Because the D-ring is a fixed anchor, the tag sits securely instead of sliding around the handle.

Color Pops: If you'd rather make a statement with color than with a charm or tag, Away's new Custom Wheel and Custom Handle sets let you build the look yourself. The interchangeable wheels and handles come in six colors, so you can add a pop of color against your suitcase's shell without committing to a new shell entirely — and swap it out again whenever you want a different look. It's a lighter-touch way to personalize a suitcase without changing the shape or function you already rely on.

Keeping Design Clean: Personalization Do's and Don'ts

Personalizing your suitcase is meant to add character, not create friction at the airport. A few ground rules keep it looking considered rather than cluttered.

Do:

• Keep attachments streamlined and close to the handle, so nothing snags on a conveyor belt or catches as your bag moves through the system.

• Include your name, phone number, and email address on your luggage tag, so your bag can be identified and returned to you if it gets separated from you in transit.

Don't:

• Overload the handle with multiple bulky attachments, or hang heavy metal charms that can swing against and scratch the polycarbonate shell during transit.

• Attach valuables or irreplaceable keepsakes to the outside of your suitcase — anything you'd hate to lose is safer packed inside than hanging exposed where it can snag, get damaged, or go missing in transit.

The goal is the same one behind the D-ring itself: a small, deliberate detail that makes the suitcase feel like yours, without working against the design that makes it durable in the first place.

Ready to Add Your Personal Touch?

A suitcase spends a lot of its life looking like everyone else's — right up until the moment you spot it coming around the carousel and know, immediately, that it's yours. That's really what personalizing your Series 3 is about: a few small, well-placed details that make an excellent suitcase feel like your excellent suitcase.

Ready to start building yours? Explore the full [link to: Away Series 3 collection page] to find your size and shell color, and browse Away's charms, tags, and accessories to pair with it. And if you're still deciding whether Series 3 is the right upgrade, our [link to: "What's New in Series 3" guide] walks through everything that's changed — from the wheels to the interior — so you can see the full picture before you personalize it.