I travel out of NYC a lot for work, and the biggest luggage lesson I've learned is that fancy materials matter way less than whether a suitcase can actually be serviced.
Hot take: most hard shell luggage ends up effectively disposable because the parts that fail are the wheels, handles, and zipper pulls, not the shell. If those parts are proprietary, glued in, or need a weird bit nobody stocks, it is not BIFL no matter how premium it looks.
My most durable bag is a plain, soft-sided Travelpro roller I bought in the mid 2010s. It's been gate checked, dragged across NYC sidewalks, and stuffed into trains. The fabric looks tired, but the wheels are attached with normal fasteners and the handle assembly is modular. I can do small fixes myself in under an hour instead of replacing the whole bag.
Meanwhile, I've watched friends cycle through expensive hard shells because a wheel cracks or the telescoping handle jams and suddenly the whole thing winds up in the trash.
If you're shopping for luggage and actually want BIFL, ask:
Are the wheels replaceable with readily available parts?
Are the screws standard and accessible?
Is there a real repair channel, or do they just offer a discount on a new bag?
Curious if others agree that luggage is one of those categories where being serviceable beats indestructible marketing every time.