Holiday travel season, which begins with Thanksgiving this week, is also holiday luggage season.

While black and navy bags have long been the standard, there are a growing number of options in lighter, brighter hues, and in whimsical patterns. T. Anthony Ltd., Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto, Titan, and Samsonite offer bags in primary and neon shades. Meanwhile Tous has come out with a new line of calfskin luggage, featuring fun, abstract designs, and adorned with gold-plated hardware; and Samsonite has revived one of its classic floral designs from the 1970s.

“More people are getting larger checked luggage” so they don’t have to worry about federal carry-on regulations, a spokeswoman for Flight 001, a travel specialty store with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Cynthia Drescher, said. In turn, the same travelers are opting for smaller carry-on bags, she said.

One classic piece of luggage that’s making a comeback: the trunk.. Though it’s been dismissed by many as unwieldy and impractical, wheels and ergonometric handles make newer incarnations — including those from Louis Vuitton, Tumi’s Townhouse line by David Chu, Globe-Trotter’s Orient label, and Samsonite’s Vintage collection — more manageable for the average traveler.

And some new varieties of soft cases boast a bevy of pockets, pouches, and zippered spaces to keep belongings orderly. “We don’t make hard cases, so a lot of our soft luggage, like duffels, has shoe pockets in the corners,” the creative director of Jack Spade, Matt Singer, said.

Jack Spade travel bags are made of heavy canvases, some of them coated with paraffin to give the patina of leather. These bags are designed to work even when the long trip is over, according to Mr. Singer. “There is a customer who wants a strict briefcase, but there is a guy who wants a bag for going to work and also for the gym or the trip,” he said. “The bag can adapt.”