Aer

Allen Choi doesn't pretend to do craftsmanship. Aer does smart mass-market: designed in San Francisco by people who actually use their bags, manufactured in China with serious materials. Each generation integrates community feedback. Value for money remains the real argument.

Allen Choi lived in San Francisco, worked in tech, went to the gym. Same problem every day: no bag properly handled the office-to-gym transition. In 2014, he designed his own and launched a Kickstarter. The project funded, bags shipped, and Aer was born accidentally from a locker room problem.

The first real product was the Gym Duffel, a bag that separated clean clothes from gym gear with a ventilated shoe compartment. Simple, clever, well executed. Word of mouth did the rest in specialist forums's one-bag and EDC community. On enthusiast communities, Aer quickly became a recurring name: not the most expensive, not the cheapest, the smartest.

In 2017, the Travel Pack 1 launched and placed Aer in a different category. A travel backpack that opens like a suitcase, separate laptop compartment, storage designed by someone who actually travels. Travel Pack 2 followed in 2018, the 3 in 2022. With each generation, Aer integrates community feedback. Hiconsumption summarized the TP3: "a premium quality that the user can easily feel." The bag costs $249, Chinese manufacturing, quality materials (1680D ballistic Cordura, waterproof YKK zips, Duraflex hardware).

The range has expanded: City Pack for daily use, Day Sling for minimalists, X-Pac versions in limited editions for technical fabric nerds. The San Francisco showroom at 650 Florida Street has become a pilgrimage site for the bag community. Fake Aers circulate on AliExpress, An enthusiast did a detailed real vs fake comparison and concluded: the copies are "almost indistinguishable," which says a lot about the manufacturing location.

Aer doesn't pretend to be artisanal. It's smart mass-market, well designed in San Francisco, well made in China. The bags are solid, designs are thoughtful, and value for money stays fair for the category. In a world of disposable bags, Aer is one of the better ones.