Trunki is a brand of ride-on/carry-on

hand luggage The term hand luggage or cabin baggage (normally called carry-on in North America) refers to the type of luggage that passengers are allowed to carry along in the passenger compartment of a vehicle instead of a separate cargo compartment. Pass ...

for children, designed by Rob Law. The product became well-known after featuring on the UK television series ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it ...

'' in 2006. Trunki has won more than a hundred product and design awards, including several from ''

Design Week ''Design Week'' is a UK-based website, and formerly a weekly magazine, for the design industry. It was first published in October 1986 by Centaur Communications. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations primary circulation for 2007 was 8 ...

'', Progressive Preschool, ''Mother and Baby Magazine'', ''D & AD'', children's retailer Right Start, ''Practical Parenting'' magazine and the Nick Jr. television channel.

History

Magmatic, the company that manufactures the Trunki range, was formed on 5 May 2006. Inventor Rob Law MBE came to public attention in 2006 following an appearance on BBC2's ''

'' programme in which panellist,

Theo Paphitis Theodoros Paphitis (; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme '' Dragons' Den'' and as former chairman of Millwall Football Club. Pap ...

, tugged and broke the strap of a sample Trunki. Dragon Richard Farleigh then expressed interest in £100,000 for 50% of the company, a suggestion which Law rejected. In 2016 Trunki celebrated its 10th anniversary - Magmatic has sold more than 3,000,000 Trunki suitcases, in over 100 countries worldwide, through retailers including

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

and

Next NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

since May 2006. Trunki 1

More than 500 articles have appeared about the Trunki in the British media and several television programmes have since featured Rob Law, including ''

Working Lunch ''Working Lunch'' is a television programme which was broadcast on BBC Two covering business, personal finance and consumer news; it was broadcast between 1994 and 2010. The programme was first aired on 19 September 1994. It had a quirky, relaxed ...

'', ''

Beat the Boss ''Beat the Boss'' is a business game show broadcast in the United Kingdom as part of the BBC's children-oriented programming, CBBC. It was presented by Saira Khan and later by Cameron Johnson. The format features two teams, one team of children ...

'', '' This Morning'' and ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

''. In June 2011 the Trunki BoostApak was featured on BBC 1's '' The Apprentice''. It was taken to France for contestants to see and broke the record for boardroom orders with an order of €214,000. Following this, sales of the Trunki BoostApak quadrupled. On 30 August 2008,

Duncan Bannatyne Duncan Walker Bannatyne, (born 2 February 1949) is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, and property. He is most famous for his appearance as a business ang ...

, a panelist on ''Dragon's Den'', appeared on ITV's ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

'' and when asked by presenter

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant (born 10 October 1946) is a retired English broadcaster, television personality, radio DJ and stand up comedian. He is best known for presenting the ITV children's television show '' Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and th ...

"Is there a sort of classic of one you've missed?" replied, "There is one, a little suitcase on wheels... every time I go to an airport I see one or two of these of these... it's the only one we missed out on I think."

Made In The UK

On 5 May 2012, the company's sixth anniversary, Magmatic expanded their production into the UK. The first Trunki to roll off the UK production line was the

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

Trunki, and the company claimed that by the end of 2012 all Trunki suitcases sold in the UK will have been made there too. All UK made cases will be stamped "Made in England". The design of the Trunki is registered as a

Community Design A European Union design is a unitary industrial design right that covers the European Union. It has both unregistered and registered forms. The unregistered Community design (UCD) came into effect on 6 March 2002 and the registered Community desig ...

. On 3 November 2015, the

United Kingdom Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

started to hear a case over the extent of legal protection of the Trunki design. PMS International, a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

firm, produce a similar range of products branded Kiddee Cases. Magmatic won the case in the High Court – the lowest civil court in England and Wales – in 2013, but it was overturned on appeal in 2014. The issue to be decided is "What significance attaches to the fact that a graphical representation of a Community registered design shows no surface decoration?"

Product Range

Since launching their ride-on suitcase in 2006, Magmatic have expanded their product offering to include the following ranges:

Editions

Sources

* * * *

References

External links

*{{URL, http://www.trunki.co.uk Official website Goods manufactured in England Luggage brands