Trunki

A Trunki suitcase.

Trunki is a ride-on hand luggage suitcase for children, designed by Rob Law. The product rose to prominence after being featured on the UK television series Dragons' Den in 2006, and has won over 50 product and design awards, including several from Design Week, Mother and Baby, D & AD, Right Start, Practical Parenting and Nick Jr.

History

Inventor Rob Law MBE came to public attention in 2006 following an appearance on BBC2's Dragons' Den programme in which panellist, Theo Paphitis, tugged and broke the strap of a sample Trunki. Dragon Richard Farleigh then made an offer of £100,000 for 50% of the company, an offer which Law rejected.

Magmatic (the company which owns the Trunki brand) has sold more than 1,300,000 Trunki suitcases in 1,564 stores in 62 countries (as of June 2012), through retailers including John Lewis, Harrod's, and Next since 5 May 2006.

More than 500 articles have appeared about Trunki in the British media and several television programmes have since featured Rob Law, including Working Lunch, Beat the Boss, This Morning and GMTV. In June 2011 the Trunki BoostApak was featured on BBC 1's The Apprentice. It was taken to France for contestants to see and broke the record for boardroom orders with an order of €214,000. Following this BoostApak saw a 300% increase in sales.

On Saturday 30 August 2008, Duncan Bannatyne appeared on ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? programme and when asked by presenter Chris Tarrant "Is there a sort of classic of one you've missed," replied, "There is one, a little suitcase on wheels... every time I go to an airport I see one or two of these of these... it's the only one we missed out on I think."

The registered design of the Trunki is registered as a Community Design and was recently successfully enforced against the 'Kiddee Case' copycat product. [1]

Trunki is distributed in the Americas through a licensing deal with toy company Melissa and Doug. Their version is manufactured in Connecticut, New England.

Made in the UK

As of May 5th 2012, the company's 6th Birthday, Trunki expanded their production into the UK. The first Trunki to roll off the production line was the Team GB Trunki, and by the end of 2012 it is claimed all Trunki suitcases sold in the UK will have been made there too. All UK made cases will be stamped "Made in England".

Product Range

Since launching their ride-on suitcase in 2006 Trunki have expanded their product offering to include the following ranges:

Product Function
BoostApak Booster seat that doubles as a backpack
PaddlePak Children's swimming backpack
SnooziHedz 3 in 1 travel pal, pillow and blanket
ToyBox 4 in 1 storage box that also functions as a ride on, rocker and cart
Extras Accessories to be used with the original Trunki

Trunki editions

Trunki Year released Year production stopped
Terrance & Trixie (blue & pink) 2006 -
Towgo (green) 2007 2009
Frieda (cow) 2008 2009
Tipu (tiger) 2009 2011
Harley (ladybird) 2009 -
Gruffalo 2009 -
Bernard (bee) 2010 -
Penelope (princess carriage) 2010 -
Freddie (fire engine) 2010 -
Quinn (green 5th birthday) 2011 2011
Trunkisaurus Rex & Rox 2011 -
Olympic - Team GB & London 2012 2011 2012

References

  1. ↑ http://www.mewburn.com/news/2013/07/9896

News stories

External links