The BRAW Story
We got stung.
You won’t.
How three friends — two budget flyers and one self-proclaimed bag connoisseur — built the bag the airlines didn’t want them to have.
How it started
The gate charge.
Again.
John and Tommy loved to travel. Budget airlines had other ideas. Time after time, the same routine — bag too big, bag needs checking, that’ll be £45 please. Sometimes twice in the same trip.
They weren’t alone. Millions of people every year get stung the same way. The answer always seemed obvious: a bag that actually fits. Properly. Under the seat. Every time.
They just needed to build it.
Then there was Richard.
Business class.
Zero gate charges.
Suspicious levels of
bag knowledge.
Richard had never been stung by a budget airline. He’d never been near one. But bags? He knew everything about them. Construction. Materials. Stitching. He’d never met a zipper he couldn’t critique.
Checking a bag was, to Richard, a personal failure. His collection spoke for itself. He considered himself, not immodestly, a connoisseur.
He brought the obsessive detail. John and Tommy brought the frustration. Together, they had something to prove.
“Too big.
Too flimsy.
Too cheap.”
Every bag they tested before deciding to build their own
The build
Built to beat the bag sizer.
The three of them had previous form. Together they’d already designed a training bag for one of the UK’s biggest fundraising organisations. They knew what good manufacturing looked like. They knew the difference between a bag built to last and one built to look good on a shelf.
So they built the Explorer 2. Carry-on approved. Personal item approved. A compression system that genuinely works. Materials that don’t fall apart after six months.
A backpack that fits under aircraft seats, passes bag sizers even when full, and doesn’t ask you to leave it at the gate.
Built Different
Smart Compression
Compress down when empty, expand when you need it. One bag that adapts to the trip — not two bags taking up wardrobe space.
Lifetime Repair Guarantee
If it breaks, we fix it. No small print. No end date. If something goes wrong with your BRAW, we’ll sort it.
Designed in the UK
Designed in the UK. Tested by people who actually travel. Not an algorithm. Not a focus group. Real bags for real trips.
The bag that started it all
Explorer 2
Carry-on approved. Personal item approved. Gate charge: £0.
Shop Explorer 2 ›