Best Antler Black Friday deals 2024: Selected by GQ’s shopping experts

Any self-respecting bargain hunter is using the next few weeks to prepare and plan for the enormous Black Friday sale arriving at the end of November. And if you still think that the shopping event is only good for buying TVs and gadgets, you’re dead wrong, as it’s a great opportunity to buy high-end travel accessories and luggage at a heavily discounted price. Antler, one the best luggage brands from the UK, is taking part in this year’s sale, so if you’re in the market for an upgrade to your suitcase or fancy a new commuter backpack, now is a good time to investigate the incoming deals.

Our shopping experts are on hand to help you dissect the sale, find the best early Black Friday deals and snag yourself a bargain ahead of your next trip abroad.

What is Black Friday?

So what is this enormous online sale? If you’ve heard the term but not taken part in the festivities before, it can seem overwhelming because of its size, as Black Friday is the largest digital shopping event of the year. How big is it? Almost every major retailer, from Amazon and John Lewis to small independent businesses, will likely slash prices on must-own products throughout November. Why? It started in the 90s when shops encouraged customers to buy gifts for a discounted price ahead of the Christmas season.

The Black Friday sale has evolved over the years into a mostly digital affair – not many people are prepared to physically go to a busy shop and tussle for a deal anymore – which means most deals are pretty accessible for everyone, so long as you have a solid internet connection and a good smartphone or tablet.

You don’t need to sign up for anything to get access to these deals, and offers can be found on literally anything, from popular cosmetics and grooming items to gardening tools. Discounts can vary from a few quid off a phone case to massive 80 per cent drops on high-end 4K TVs. Therefore, it’s worth preparing ahead of the sale, figuring out what stuff you might want to buy, and making a list to keep yourself focused.

If you’ve got a trip coming up over Christmas or you just fancy upgrading your current luggage set, Black Friday can be an excellent time to shop, as top-tier brands like Antler will be taking part and dropping prices on the best suitcases, best backpacks, best holdalls and best carry on suitcases. Already a reasonably affordable travel brand, Antler has been involved in Black Friday in previous years, with most bags and suitcases falling by around 30 per cent on average.

Keen to get stuck in? That’s great news, but there are still a few weeks before Black Friday officially begins. Taking place the weekend after Thanksgiving in the USA, Black Friday is always the final Friday of November, which will be the 29th of this year. The Cyber Weekend runs over the next three days, ending on Cyber Monday. Keep in mind that any offers you see on Friday will almost certainly remain throughout the weekend, so there’s no benefit to holding out for any further price drops deeper into the weekend. Spot a good deal? Go ahead and grab it.

When does Antler start its Black Friday sale?

While we know the dates for Black Friday’s official internet-wide sale, we don’t have any info on when Antler will launch its luggage sale. Most retailers like to keep it a secret to build suspense, but we like to think of ourselves as shopping sleuths, so a bit of minor detecting can give you a good ballpark period on when you need to get your wallet ready.

As mentioned, Black Friday Proper starts at the end of November, but more than a few online stores open up the discounts well ahead of this time to give shoppers as much time as possible to click and buy. This varies between retailers, but the majority kick off proceedings around a week before Black Friday. Therefore, you can expect at least one or two price drops on Antler’s website between the 22nd and 29th of November.

In some extreme cases of retailers showcasing total disregard for sale timings, some shops unlock the bargains in the first week of November. While we don’t expect Antler to do this, it’s worth signing up for its newsletter or keeping the website tab in your browser if you’re particularly keen to snag a deal as soon as it goes live.