Db Journey: How a Cheeky Scandinavian Name Grew Into a Serious Bag Brand

In 2012, two Scandinavians launched a travel gear company under a name that was impossible to ignore: Douchebags. Founded by Jon Olsson and Truls Brataas, the label built its early identity on that irreverence before trimming it down to something shorter and cleaner: Db. Today, trading as Db Journey and operating under the legal entity Db Equipment, the brand designs backpacks, luggage and sports bags from its Scandinavian base. The story of how a provocative name became a serious travel gear label starts with that rebrand, and it still shapes how the company presents itself.

From Douchebags to Db

The name change is one of the few facts about Db that tells a story on its own. What began as Douchebags, a name chosen to stand out in a crowded outdoor and travel market, eventually became Db, a shorter mark that kept the brand’s original initials while dropping the shock value. The company remains registered as Db Equipment, and its founders, Jon Olsson and Truls Brataas, are still the names attached to its origin. The essentials are simple: a 2012 start, a Scandinavian home, and a name that evolved without erasing its roots.

Backpacks, luggage and beyond

Db’s catalogue centres on three families: backpacks, luggage and sports bags. The Ramverk range sits at the heart of the luggage side of the business, and the brand points to it as the collection that has drawn the most recognition. Around that core, Db has kept expanding into more specific formats, from weekend bags to roller cases built for carrying sports equipment rather than everyday clothing. The breadth suggests a brand thinking about movement in general, whether that means a daily commute, a weekend away, or hauling ski gear through an airport.

Built on feedback

According to the brand, Db’s product development has leaned heavily on outside input. Db states that it consulted more than 150 athletes, travellers and baggage handlers while developing its gear. That mix of voices is telling: athletes who need durability under repeated hard use, travellers who care about comfort and organisation over long journeys, and baggage handlers who see firsthand what happens to a bag in transit. For anyone using the finished product, that process is meant to translate into details that hold up outside a showroom, though it is the brand’s own account of its design process rather than an independently verified claim.

What Db stands for

Db presents itself as an award-winning label in the travel gear space, and it specifically points to its Ramverk luggage line as having received recognition. These are claims made by Db about its own products rather than independently confirmed rankings, but they line up with the brand’s broader positioning: a company that wants its gear judged on functional merit, built through consultation with the people who actually use bags hard, rather than on branding alone.

Recent launches

In late August 2026, the brand introduced the Snow Roller Pro 127L in a Blue Hour colourway, a wheeled case built specifically for ski equipment. Early September brought the Essential Weekender 40L in Black Out, followed shortly after by the Weigh Lighter Backpack 25L in Monochrome, which Db describes as the lightest backpack it has made. Most recently, in late September, the brand released the Essential Tote 20L through a collaboration with Former. Taken together, the run of launches points to a brand refreshing several categories at once, from ski travel to daily carry.