I tested Paravel, the world's first carbon-neutral luggage, and the bags have majorly upgraded the way I travel

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As a travel editor (i.e., professional traveler), I take luggage personally. The best luggage and carry-on bags should not only be easy to whisk through airports, but also durable, spacious, and hopefully stylish. In fact, in an ideal world, you shouldn't even notice you're lugging your luggage, because it transports and organizes your belongings so seamlessly. It should also be durable: I can't count how many times I've had suitcase wheels decide to stop working a few days into an international trip, or have opened my bag at my destination to find everything in total disarray. 

Tired of single-use suitcases that made traveling even more painful (delays are bad enough), I wanted to test investment-worthy luggage that would last a long time and look good doing it. Paravel is a sustainable luggage brand relatively new to the scene that I was drawn to aesthetically. Learning the company's designs are made of 100% post-consumer recycled polycarbonate was an excellent bonus. So, over the course of two months of travel, I tested the brand's classic suitcase and carry-on bags to see if the quality merited the upscale price.

Design and specs

For a brand so committed to sustainable construction, Paravel makes an elegant, stylish suitcase that feels exceptionally durable, too. When I first received the Aviator Carry-On Plus and the Aviator Grand Checked Luggage to test, I would have never been able to guess that its materials (and even detailing like zippers) were entirely recycled. A striking burgundy "Boxcar Red" color, both bags have a classic vintage aesthetic to them that looks as expensive as the bags are. (As far as luggage goes, Paravel is on the mid- to higher-end side of things.)

The New York City-based brand, which has only been around since 2016, uses 100% post-consumer recycled polycarbonate sourced from discarded items like water cooler tanks and CD jewel cases. Paravel claims to have recycled and transformed over 7.5 million plastic water bottles into their stylish luggage. Another cool — and completely unique — sustainability feature is that Paravel offsets the carbon emissions it takes to create and ship your purchase to you and then offsets the estimated emissions of your luggage's "first trip with you." 

Both the Aviator Carry-On Plus and the Aviator Grand Checked Luggage come with interior compression boards to help flatten your items and create more space, plus TSA-approved locks to keep everything safe. They also both feature "360-degree wheels," with steel axles and carbon steel bearings, designed to roll smoothly in any direction and turn easily.

What it's like to use

I tested the Aviator Checked Luggage on two trips — one domestic (lasting five days), and one international (lasting eight days). As a vehement carry-on purist, I wouldn't ordinarily check a bag for a five-day trip, but I needed to pack multiple outfits, jewelry, and makeup for a weeklong wedding. Using the fasteners and the interior compression board, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I could comfortably cram into the suitcase, and it kept everything tightly in place: I arrived at my hotel with everything exactly how I'd packed it. 

To test the Carry-On Plus, I packed it to the brim with books and clothing I'd planned on donating and rolled it around my apartment, up and down my stairs, and around the block. The Carry-On Plus has the same design and organizational features as the Checked Luggage, but is just smaller in scale.

From a construction perspective, the most impressive feature of both Paravel bags is the wheels, which glided across both the airport floor and city sidewalks like butter (no matter how much I overpacked.) The bags have "double spinner wheels" that smoothly roll 360 degrees in any direction. While dragging the Carry-On Plus down my bumpy and uneven Brooklyn sidewalk, the wheels easily handled the extra friction and continued to roll smoothly. 

The recycled polycarbonate exterior is supposed to be "scuff-hiding," and I found this to be mostly true, though I noticed a few small scuffs after my first trip with the Grand Checked Luggage. But more impressive to me is that after two big vacations with the big suitcase, the wheels still rolled as smoothly as when I first tested it, and the zippers showed no sign of strain, even though I completely overpacked. 

Because it's so easy to organize the times I put in my bag, unpacking was a breeze. Usually, by the end of a trip, I give up on organization and the inside of my suitcase looks like a giant laundry pile. But with a removable laundry bag, two smart pockets, and the compression board, it was easy to keep everything in its pace throughout the trip, which included a bunch of mini trips that involved packing and unpacking. 

What makes it stand out

The luggage is elegant and classic-looking, without sacrificing durability. Even better, though, is the degree to which Paravel actually makes good on its sustainability claims by being completely carbon neutral since 2020 and offsetting the emissions from your first trip with the luggage. These bags are built for frequent travelers who need high-performing, smooth-moving luggage, but who are conscientious about the impact travel has on the earth.

Cons to consider

Both the Grand Luggage and the Carry-On Plus are very slightly heavier than some of their competitors. For example, our overall best carry-on (the Travelpro Platinum Elite Expandable Carry-On) is 7.8 pounds, while the Paravel is 8.5 pounds, and our favorite hard-sided carry-on is 7.5 pounds. Similarly, the Grand Checked Luggage is 11.8 pounds with notably smaller dimensions than the Away Large suitcase, which is 12.1 pounds. However, given how smoothly the Paravel wheels move, even when the bag is at full capacity, this slight amount of extra wait doesn't have a noticeable impact on portability.

At $525 for the Grand Checked Luggage and $475 for the Carry-On Plus, Paravel is priced higher than popular best luggage competitors like Away and Monos. However, it's still far less expensive than higher-end brands like Tumi and Briggs & Riley. 

The bottom line

Overall, Paravel luggage is sturdy, stylish, and easy to maneuver. The brand makes good on ambitious sustainability promises that set it apart as the most eco-friendly option (aside from carrying your belongings with bare hands). Buttery smooth wheels, well-designed interiors, and overall sturdiness make both the Grand Luggage and Carry-On Plus excellent investments for the sustainably minded traveler.