Garment MATE - Suit Carrier with Wheels

Short Version of This Review: I cannot recommend this bag enough! It’s brilliant! Long Version: Read on… As a Business Speaker I spend a huge amount of time travelling via planes and trains around the UK and Europe. Many times I have to either catch a connecting flight or I'm flying in and out of an event in one day. I never travel in my business suit since witnessing one person’s day being ruined by a bout of turbulence and a travelsick passenger. So when I travel to a business event, I normally have 1 Suit 2 Shirts Underwear Socks Pair of Shoes Toiletries and razor 1 MacBook Charger Plug Adaptor IPad IPhone I hate putting stuff in the hold, because quite simply it holds me up and can add an extra hour on top of my journey. Not only that, according to SITA 3000 bags are lost every hour of every day across the world. This is a risk I can’t afford to take on a business trip. Of course if you're flying on a premium airline you can easily get all this stuff in a case and a laptop bag but if you have to travel via a budget airline and get everything into just 1 bag its nigh on impossible. Furthermore I object paying £40 a journey to put a bag in the hold seriously it sometimes works out cheaper to pay for another seat and bring another bag on board than pay for it to be placed in the hold. I did huge amount of research before plumping for the gate8 trifold, and it’s been a fantastic bag, that’s paid for itself in a few trips. 1) It carries all the above with ease 2) It complies with all the airline baggage allowances 3) My suit comes out looking good. 4) The bag looks really stylish. 5) The detachable laptop bag means that even on premium airlines I only have to carry one bag rather than a suitcase and a laptop bag! Even better it comes with a 5 Year guarantee. I bought my Gate8 Trifold Mark 1 last year and after near constant use the kick stand at the bottom of the bag broke (I’d like to point out that the rest of the bag was completely fine). I emailed Gate8 through amazon and let them know. Alistair emailed me back within 4 hours and within 48 hours I had a brand new Gate8 Trifold Mark 2 in my possession. This new version is even better than the first - more storage a much better kick stand, I love it! One of the things I speak about a lot is customer service. Gate8 were fantastic, coincidentally I had a problem with another item I bought from a seller (who shall remain nameless) on amazon and Gate8 really could teach those guys a thing or two. I would strongly recommend the Gate8 trifold it’s a fantastic bag for the business traveller that saves you time and money!

Decided to update my review as I've now used this bag for a number of overnight and several night trips including flights/trains etc. Overall I think you have to give yourself time to get used to the bag. It is a useful suit carrier and with care and using the separate shirt folder you can minimise creases. I've not managed to get the quantity of clothes that the manufacturer suggests and get an easily folded & crease free solution. Adding a laptop especially makes it unbalanced and stops it fitting in most airport hand luggage size guides. As a suit carrier and overnight or 2 nights at most I'd say its ok, but beyond that & especially when adding gym shoes I think you're better off with larger luggage. Original Review: Received on time and is of good quality materials. Only used once so far but initial impressions are: Can get reasonable amount of clothes in, not sure what it would look like with 2 suits & laptop etc. Was surprised to find I couldn't get it on the overhead shelf of a Virgin pendolino train but could in a voyager. Have a 4 day business trip coming up soon including a flight and I'm only planning to take this bag so it will be interesting to see how I get on The bag is quite wide and using it as a pull along it takes a little getting used to as I found it kept catching my heels initially. Suit came out with very minimal creasing, shirts didn't fare as well, but I've recently purchased the shirt folder insert and will update on that after my next trip.

Gave it a year of use before I reviewed as I wanted to really test it out and be able to provide my thoughts after a prolonged road test. Firstly, the design - being able to attach the laptop case to the carrier - is a great idea and makes speeding through airports and train stations pretty easy. Inside of the case you can easily fit in shoes, 2 suits and 2 shirts with ties, socks, underwear, etc. which is ample room for a short business trip or a weekend away. Without the laptop case attached the garment bag is easy to handle and stands upright however with a laptop attached the bag has a tendency to topple over and although it is still easy enough to wheel or carry, the leaning does mean it needs to be held up when you are standing still at platforms or taxi ranks, etc. Where the item has real trouble is in its manufacturing quality. Whilst there were no issues in the first 6 months of use since then one of the hooks on the carrying strap has snapped and also the zip mechanism on the laptop bag has frayed to the extent that one of the zips has detached from one side of the zip threads. Despite the flaws, the wheeled case is handy and I will continue to use it at weekends but the issues with the laptop bag and strap mean that its usefulness during business trips has been significantly diminished. Despite the positives that this bag brings, I cannot 100% recommend it as a result of the quality issues - especially given the price against other garment carriers. Hopefully Gate8 can release a newer version in the future that is more robust and lasts longer than 12 months.

I'm a big bloke. I wear big clothes. They do fit in the case, but end up very crumpled. Put a laptop in, and the bag falls over. So overall, a great idea, but poorly executed. When I raised my concerns, I was told that I could only return the item if it was unused. Since I used it before finding out precisely how bad it was, that was impossible. Customer service seems to be designed to stall, then deflect. No supplier accountability at all. My initial enquiries were completely ignored. Not at all pleased at having spent £150 on something that isn't fit for purpose and doesn't work as advertised.

Conceptually, this is a great bag. But, having used it a good amount over the last year or so (about 50 shorthaul flights), I've come to hate it. Firstly, I cannot take very much stuff. A suit and two shirts, with a t-shirt, underwear, and shoes causes the bag to bloat. That then means I cannot zip on the laptop bag, and even if I can, I have to limit what I can pack in it. So, I end up taking my laptop rucksack, because even a laptop bag designed to hook over the handle won't sit on top of the bag like it will a normal case. I've since learned how to roll clothes, and when you take out the waste of having to fold the bag over on itself, you can pack much more efficiently into a "box" like most normal cases. I'm afraid I cannot realistically find a use case for this bag, I can either travel with a rucksack or I need a small roller.

Mr M posting. This is an extremely well thought out, well put together, quality bit of kit. For its first outing I packed 2 suits, 1 pair of smart trousers, split between main bag and optional Cabin Size...

Well it works for me, it isn't perfect but nothing is. I can get 3 shirts a spare pair of trousers and a polo or 3, 3 days max after that check a bag. I'm a fifty flights a year man and this works for short trips, all garment carriers are flawed just as square spinners are. Both have their pro and cons. Mine has never fallen over even when over packed, There is a knack to zipping on the laptop bag. The only real complaint I have is its to wide for plane and train isles. I hate carrying two bags an I like the fact that I can quickly and easily find and remove my laptop and toiletries at the security queue.

I do not normally write a review, but on getting this item as a present for my husband for business, I felt I had to share our thoughts on it. Before purchasing this bag, I spent ages trawling through pages of items and different websites before settling on this one. It is more expensive than some of the other suit carriers, but it has the addition of a convenient zip off lap top bag. I have given this bag this rating, as I had high expectations and it met them and then some. This bag is everything they say, it has a labyrinth of zipped pockets and hidden places you can put things. The place for clothes is suitable easily for 2 suits, and there is a separate place for 2 pairs of shoes, and a washbag in there for your bathroom gear. Also in the clothes bit, is lots of places for your smaller items, like if you were taking a tie etc or some socks etc. The zip off laptop bag fits a 17inch laptop fine, it also has separate zipped pockets to put a folder in with your paperwork. There is another inside pocket with space for a mobile and pens etc. Another good addition to this bag is on top of having the telescopic handle, which can pull out and neatly go back away, when you are not using the wheels. But it also has a detachable shoulder strap which you can use on the whole bag, or you can use it to just carry the laptop bag. The designers of this bag have for me thought of everything you could possibly need space wise to take with you, whether for business or a weekend away.