Jey&em luggage

Client snapshot

‍

‍
Jey&em is a Swiss travel luggage startup. They approached Forward AP afterbeing turned down by other manufacturers, who considered the design too complexto produce.

‍

The challenge

‍

‍
The luggage combined two highly distinctive, non-standard features in a singlehard-shell case: a click-on laptop case mounted at the front, and a 3-degreetilt built into the shell for maximum stability even when fully loaded. Bothrequired engineering and mould work well beyond a standard hard-case productionrun, which is why other factories had passed on the project.

‍

‍

Requirements

‍

‍

·      PC/ABS construction, on adedicated mould with the IP owned by Jey&em

·      Hinomoto rollers

·      Structural resistance towithstand a flat jump test and a 1m drop test with 25kg loaded inside

·      A front laptop case that lockswith a TSA-approved mechanism, while still clicking on and off easily

·      Full custom branding:customized zipper pulls, a metal cast logo at the top of the case, and brandedinternal fabric lining

·      A powerbank and USB chargingcable integrated into the luggage

·      Supporting accessories: alaundry bag, an outer canvas carry bag, and custom high-value packaging

‍

‍

‍

‍

The solution

‍

‍
The locking/click mechanism was the central engineering problem: custom zipperpulls were developed to let the TSA lock secure the laptop case directly, whileFidlock hardware handled the click-on/click-off attachment to the main shell —giving the laptop case both quick-release convenience and lockable security inone system.

For the shellitself, Forward AP produced a custom aluminum mould for the front and backpanels, testing and refining it specifically for vacuum-forming the PC/ABSshells to the required shape and tilt.

Beyond the luggageitself, Forward AP handled sourcing across the full accessory set — powerbankand USB charging cable options, the laundry bag, the outer canvas carry bag,and the custom high-value cardboard packaging — vetting alternatives againstJey&em's spec rather than developing each from scratch.

‍

Process

‍

‍
Forward AP led full development of the luggage across three rounds of sampling,including parallel sampling of several laptop-case variants, two of which werecarried into production. The team went beyond the original brief, proactivelysuggesting product and production improvements and guiding Jey&em throughdecisions neither party had precedent for, given how unusual the project was.Two production runs of 200 units each were completed for the brand's launchphase.

‍

Outcome

‍
Forward AP delivered 400 units in 2018–2019, with QC testing performed acrossmultiple exemplars from each run to confirm the shell, locking mechanism, andstructural resistance all met spec before shipment.

‍

‍

‍