Catharine MacIntosh got stopped and pulled aside by airport security because she wasn’t carrying enough luggage from her 10-day trip from Holland. “I had a large black purse for 10 days,” says MacIntosh. “I was taken out of the line and they took my passport. They couldn’t image travelling with such a small bag.

“I was travelling for business and meeting up with a colleague who was the same size. She said that she would lend me what I don’t have.” That offer led to MacIntosh thinking of ways to travel without minimal or ideally, zero baggage.

The concept behind the Zerobaggage start up is for travellers, frequent and otherwise, to be able to fly without having to burden themselves with checked luggage. MacIntosh says users of Zerobaggage fly to a destination any where in the world (and is part of the Zerobaggage network) and once there, can purchase everything they want and need from involved retailers (from the “marketplace.” This includes clothes, shoes and toiletries. “The idea is to have low and high end goods, all made locally,” says MacIntosh. “Not shipped in containers or driven across countries.” MacIntosh calls the concept, “sustainable opulence.” Travelers who participate with Zerobaggage will also receive points for carbon emissions reduction and could apply those points against dinners in their visited country.

Once you’ve chosen the clothes from the marketplace, they’re made available in the hotel room. But what happens to them after they’ve been worn? They go into the “pre-loved” section of the marketplace, providing they are still in good shape.

If you’re a more frequent traveller, MacIntosh says there’s the locker option. You can store your favourite items there so you don’t have to lug them with you. It does require buying double of everything, though.

Zerobaggage is expected to launch in fall/winter 2010.

If you want to know what MacIntosh was carrying in her black bag when she was in Holland, she had:

Her MAC Book and adapter
A book
A black dress
Four t-shirts
Two pairs of pants
An extra pair of shoes
Toiletries