Type Private Limited Founders Christian Cook | Industry Consumer Goods | |
Founded November 4, 2014; 2 years ago (2014-11-04) in London, England Headquarters Alphabeta Building, London, UK Key people Christian Cook (Founder) | ||
Néit (pronounced as neat), is a company based in London, United Kingdom, that manufactures smart hard case luggage. The company is known for its eponymous smart luggage.
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Néit's Kickstarter Luggage campaign was launched at the end of January 2016 and reached its initial goal in 50 days. As of August 2016, it is in production and expected to ship December 2016.
History
In August the company launched its first product, the CardCase for iPhone; a protective iPhone case that can hold cards. After the launch of CardCase, founder Christian Cook was travelling often to meet with suppliers and manufacturers. Upon returning home from a trip in South-East Asia, Cook was frustrated by his luggage taking up a lot of space at home in his small city-center apartment. He realized that luggage hadn’t been updated for modern living standards and Cook and his team started working on developing a better solution; collapsible smart luggage.
In 2015, Nicholas Öster Jenk, a Tech Mentor at Google Launchpad joined the company. After working almost a year, the company finalised the design for Neit Luggage in Late 2015.
Kickstarter campaign
After completing the initial design and prototype of Néit Luggage, the founders launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter on January 21, 2016. The campaign had a goal of $100,000. It raised almost half of the money within the first three days of the launch and by March 11, 2016, the campaign was fully funded.
Néit's campaign continued on to include stretch goals, each of which promised to provide additional functionality and customization options to the luggage. At a $125,000 goal the promised addition was colored metal piping for the luggage handle, at $150,000 a power bank and at $200,000 a full color option for the luggage. As of July 2016, they have reached the $125,000 goal.
Products
In 2014, the company launched it first product Card Case, which is a card case for the iPhone, made from rubberized TPU and rubberized polycarbonate.
Néit Luggage is hard case luggage. It is available in two sizes carry-on and check-in. The cases collapses to reduce their volume by 70% while also becoming 3 inch thick.
In the media
Néit Luggage was among the runners up in the 2016 British Invention of the Year at The Gadget Show Live. Travel + Leisure magazine wrote that Néit Luggage is “about to change the game”. USA Today has named it among its pick of 5 coolest Kickstarter products and Wired magazine included it on their list of "must-have" items for summer 2016. It was featured by Marie Claire in the travel section of the July 2016 issue with the New York Post also sayign that the luggage could save closet space.
The Daily Mail suggested that "The question of where to stash a sizeable suitcase in a small hotel room, or flat, could be answered by this handy foldable bag." and Curbed wrote that "[Néit ] simultaneously solves the problems of needing something in which you can carry your stuff while your traveling and also being immediately pissed off at your large and unwieldy suitcase as soon as you enter your home or hotel room." Fast Company also reviewed Néit Luggage and wrote that "most collapsible luggage makes a trade-off on design: collapsibility versus protection. What interests us about Néit is they're avoiding that trade-off all together."