The multi-pocketed Scottevest, which has 24 internal pockets helps the traveler by organizing and hiding various items in an easy to reach vest, Thursday March 8, 2012.
Friday, March 9, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Las Vegas thrives because of the tourist, whether it's the independent traveler who vacations or spends weekends here or the road warrior who attends trade shows or conventions.
What do they have in common?
They all need products that will make their travels easier.
Some of the newest travel products and accessories were on display in Las Vegas this week at the Travel Goods Association trade show. More than 300 companies exhibited at the show, which drew about 3,500 people to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Among the industry innovations are a vest that offers built-in baggage pouches and gives new meaning to the term carry-on, luggage with built-in shelves — eliminating the need to unpack — and carry-on bags that are easier than standard products to tote through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at airports.
Here are a few of the items on display at this year’s travel products show.
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The Scottevest
For the traveler who wants to wear his or her luggage through the security line comes the Scottevest, a lightweight vest with 24 pockets, including one large enough to carry a laptop computer or iPad. Skip Warner showed off the vest, which incorporates a “Personal Area Network” for music system wiring inside the collar and a pocket with clear-touch fabric that enables a user to access a smartphone screen without removing the device from the pocket. The company also showed Scottevest travel boxers made of lightweight fast-drying material. Rinse them out in a sink and they’re dry in a half-hour. Not only could you wear the same boxers day after day, but they also have a couple of pockets.
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GoToobs
LC Industries offered several travel products at the Travel Goods Association show. Raymond Roos demonstrated GoToobs, easy-to-clean silicon containers for transporting gels and liquids. The easy-to-label containers have one-way valves to prevent leaks and a suction-cup design on one end that enables users to attach it to a shower wall. GoToobs come in 1.25-, 2- and 3-ounce volumes, all TSA compatible. Roos also showed the Belle Hop, a travel document holder with pockets for credit cards, a passport and cash with a window placed to easily display identification. Removing a strap converts it to a woman’s clutch. LC also has a portable 1-by-3-inch charging unit that plugs into the wall and works like a storage battery to portably charge phones and small electronics with an assortment of attachments, including USB and mini-USB ports.
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Shelves to Go
You no longer have to put your clothing in hotel drawers that may not have been dusted for weeks. Gary Stout demonstrated Shelves to Go, a new concept in suitcase packing. What looks like a standard carry-on bag contains a stack of three shelves that accordion into the bag and can be lifted out and hung from a closet clothes hanger or from the top of a door. Stout said his flight attendant wife puts a short trip wardrobe on the shelves and can pack and unpack in less than a minute.
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Laptop bags
Briggs & Riley's Verb and @Work lines of carry-on bags and backpacks are ideal for getting through security lines quickly because laptop computers don’t have to be unpacked and restowed. Annslie Bigbee showed bags with either clamshell or tethered designs. Laptops can be stowed in one side of a clamshell design and can be opened and run through a TSA scanner without removal. The tethered design keeps the laptop in a compartment that can be removed from the bag but remains attached to it with a strap so that it doesn’t get separated at the end of the TSA check.
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Collapsible bags
Travelers who have been on a cruise ship know that most cabins lack space for luggage. Biaggi has developed space-saving, hinge-lock technology that folds a standard-sized suitcase to a flat surface. Michael Lauri of Biaggi said each piece has four spinner wheels for easy transport. He noted that when not in use, luggage can be folded and stowed in about half the space needed when in use.
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Recycled materials
Kiva offered its Packing Genius line of suitcase and carry-on bags made from recycled plastics and fabric. Kiva’s Tom Konecki said a big draw at the show was the company’s Compress-It Cubes line, which compresses 10-by-7-by-5-inch bags to half that size and weighs just 4 ounces. Units include a TSA “3-1-1” see-through container for carrying liquids and gels.
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