A week's worth of pants in a carry-on sounds impossible.

Nice! That automatic feeling is the goal, right? Was there a specific trick that helped it click for you, or did you just brute force it until it stuck?

Man, I hear you @evanb87. That's exactly what makes these things so tricky. It looks and feels totally fine until one day it just isn't. I had a spot in my old place that seemed just like a minor stain for years, no real give at all. Then last winter it just sort of gave up and my foot went right through. It's wild how something can seem solid right up until the moment it fails.