A number of manufacturers are attempting to make your jet-setting a little easier by designing modular luggage pieces that can grow, shrink and shift shapes to suit a variety of situations. This new generation of modular luggage should make everything from overnighters to multi-year pilgrimages a little easier for travelers of all types and stripes.

 

Modular luggage surely isn't anything cutting edge, but it does seem to have captured the minds of manufacturers recently. At the latest Outdoor Retailer and ISPO Munich trade shows we saw a number of different designs from several outdoor/luggage manufacturers. And while some of them have outdoor adventure inspiration, they could also prove quite useful for more general types of travel.

 

The Eagle Creek Morphus looks like a normal wheeled suitcase – up until you realize that the main compartment zips off and transforms into a backpack, transferring up to 93 liters of capacity from the floor to your back. For a moment, the hollowed-out roller shell looks like it'll have to slink back into the closet, because clearly a roller frame without a suitcase is useless. But the Morphus has another trick up its sleeve in the form of a lining inside the frame that flips out and becomes a separate roller suitcase of its own, nearly doubling the overall hauling capacity.