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.
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.
Elba aluminium suitcase, black
Nothing on this case is soft. Turn it around and look at how it is put together.
The vertical ribs stiffen every panel, so the shell takes the knocks your things would otherwise take.
The two halves close on a metal frame. There is no zipper to split or to cut open.
Each latch has its own three-digit lock. Set your code once and leave the keys at home.
Corners hit the ground first. All eight are capped in metal and riveted to the shell.
Four double wheels turn in any direction, so the case rolls upright beside you.
A telescopic handle for the terminal, and a top and a side handle for stairs and car boots.
Free shipping on every size.
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That island was Elba. It is where our name comes from, and it is the standard we hold the suitcase to.
Orders, sizes and delivery: write to us and we will answer.
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.
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.
He steps ashore on Elba. The man who had commanded armies across a continent now rules an island of about twelve thousand people.
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.
He sails from Elba with about a thousand men and lands on the French coast three days later.
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.
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.
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.
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.