This week, we take a look at how the luggage brand Away has been showing up across pop culture and how its top-of-funnel marketing efforts have led to growth in its aluminum luggage business.
Brand marketers often talk about the importance of popular culture. Phrases like “being at the intersection of fashion and culture” or “moving at the speed of culture” tend to litter marketers’ remarks about how they show up for consumers today.
Away, the DTC luggage brand, is a good case study in how brands can integrate their brand marketing with organic cultural moments and product calendar. Over the last year, Away has focused on its aluminum suitcase collections ahead of a planned October refresh of the line. A combination of running campaigns and organically showing up in the hands of celebrities and content creators has led to a significant increase in sales for the aluminum category.
Away identified aluminum as an important category because it’s most often associated with high-end brands like Rimowa, but Away offers it at a lower price point. Its main aluminum luggage is sold at around $625, although it also offers smaller aluminum cross-body bags for $125.
The pop-culture buzz started with a post from the DJ and record producer John Summit. In the spring, he posted multiple TikToks about frustrations with his metal Rimowa suitcase, including a video of him setting it on fire after it broke on him. Away reached out to Summit and spent several months crafting a campaign in which Summit served as their “chief destruction officer,” putting the aluminum collection through a series of outlandish durability tests. The campaign, launched across Away’s social channels in October, features a co-branded aluminum Stadium Bag — it’s clear to comply with standard stadium security rules and is set to go on sale during Summit’s tour later this year.
According to Away’s vp of marketing, Quynh Dang, one of the most important parts of staying connected to culture is being prepared for these organic moments when they arrive.
“But speed isn’t always the most important thing,” she told Glossy. “We had that interaction with John Summit in April. We got together with his team, and both parties wanted to ensure we weren’t just throwing something together quickly. We built a relationship over six months, and we told him about this aluminum refresh coming up. The virality of the original post took off with speed, but speed wasn’t the most important thing for us. It was about doing something meaningful.”
The John Summit partnership is far from the only fortuitous moment to appear for Away in the last year. The brand has recently been seen carried by mega-celebrities like Charli XCX and Sydney Sweeney, who received gifted product from the brand. Away bags also appeared in pop star Zara Larsson’s music video for the song “Crush.” None of this was planned ahead of time, and media outlets like The Strategist called out the brand’s placements.
One cultural moment that was planned: working with influencer Alix Earle on the launch of her skin-care brand Reale Actives. Away provided the aluminum case that influencers and content creators received from Reale Actives, filled with product samples ahead of the brand’s launch. While the social content generated by this gifting campaign focused on the skin-care products, Away’s aluminum packaging was featured prominently alongside them.
Altogether, these moments have had concrete effects on the business. Sales of aluminum products at Away have increased 20% from 2025 to 2026, making aluminum Away’s best-selling and fastest-growing category. Away’s annual revenue is over $100 million. In 2019, it was valued at over $1.4 billion.
Those numbers show the power of cultural connections. A 2026 report from CultureLab found that brands with high levels of cultural relevance tend to be valued an average of three times more than brands that sit out from cultural moments. Brands like Levi’s, Innisfree and E.l.f. Cosmetics have all spoken about the importance of staying connected to culture.
For Dang, the success of the aluminum category has also motivated the brand to keep pursuing top-of-funnel brand marketing moments. Earlier this year, Away launched “Actually Away,” a series of short films and microdramas, pursuing what Dang calls a “social is the new TV” strategy. Unlike many other brand microdramas, which typically focus on comedy, Away chose a more meaningful series of shorts based on real travel stories from its customers.
The episodes of “Actually Away” are performing well for the brand, according to Dang. The average episode has received well over 10,000 likes on Instagram, compared to other posts that typically hover at around 1,000 likes. Away said episodes of “Actually Away” drove double-digit spikes in engagement over its standard content.
“The stories are meaningful to our community and the types of stories we want to tell as a travel brand,” Dang said. “We wrapped season 1, and it was viral, in terms of the impressions we saw. We’re in production of season 2 now because we got strong signals from our community that they wanted to see more from us like this.”
Stat of the week
Chanel is the third-most-purchased luxury brand on eBay. That’s according to eBay’s new Watchlist trend report released this week. Chanel’s growth on the platform has been fueled by new creative director Mathieu Blazy. Searches for his name on eBay jumped nearly 300% this year, putting Chanel at its highest ranking on the site in five years.
News to know
- Subdial, a U.K.-based luxury watch trading platform, is making a push into the U.S. with $20 million in new funding.
- Matteo Tamburini, creative director for the Italian luxury brand Tod’s for the last three years, is leaving the company, he announced Tuesday.
- Golden Goose saw a 21% increase in DTC sales this year and growth in all regions.
