Luggage Industry Disruptor Away Plans to Triple Revenues Next Year
Luggage company Away has high hopes for next year, expecting sales to triple in 2018.
One thing driving that growth could be the new product line CEO Stephanie Korey told Cheddar is in the pipeline, though she didn’t specify exactly what’s to come. The founder also credits the company’s business-to-consumer model with propelling growth, as well as its ability to manage inventory, something that is often a hurdle for start-ups.
“I’m probably one of the few CEOs out there whose entire background before becoming a CEO was in supply chain,” Korey told Cheddar. “We have created a very responsive, fast supply chain.”
Founded in 2015, Away has already sold more than 250,000 suitcases and grown from 4 to 100 employees. The company has raised $31 million dollars in funding, and Korey says she’s not looking to raise more capital in the near future.
Away’s decked out luggage features laundry bags, interior compartments, and a built-in USB charger. The tech features are something that have come into focus recently, after major airlines banned the use of smart luggage with non-removable lithium-ion batteries.
The new rules don’t affect Away, though, because its batteries are removable.
“We anticipated the potential for regulations to change around batteries,” Korey said. “From the start we built the battery removable, so there’s no impact to us with the new regulations.”
The policies from Delta, Alaska, and American Airlines go into effect on January 15, 2018.
For full interview [click here] (https://cheddar.com/videos/aways-big-year-and-plans-for-expansion).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
