Rimowa's suitcases are everywhere. Rolling down Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu's tourist hotbed; replacing the Tumis and Louis Vuittons on luggage carousels at Palm Beach International Airport; filling overhead bins out of Heathrow in first, business and even economy class.
These suitcases were not always so ubiquitous. Rimowa has been around since 1898. Its first grooved (and now signature) aluminium alloy cases hit sales floors in 1950. They started reaching critical-mass popularity in 2015, when the company reported a 28.2 per cent growth in year-on-year sales. Then, in October 2016, the LVMH Group acquired 80 per cent of Rimowa for a cool €640m — LVMH's largest investment since buying the cashmere-maker Loro Piana in 2013. The German outfit was said to have attracted the French powerhouse because it had exceeded the luggage market's growth rate over the five previous years (a figure of about 5 per cent). Rimowa's celebrity fans had also helped the jump in visibility and demand.
In January 2017, Bernard Arnault, LVMH's chairman, appointed his then 24-year-old son, Alexandre, as Rimowa's co-chief executive, alongside Dieter Morszeck, the grandson of the founder. An alumnus of Télécom ParisTech, with a postgraduate degree in research innovation from the Ecole Polytechnique, the appointment of the young Arnault at the 80-year-old heritage house raised eyebrows. Arnault Jr now oversees one of the most dynamic, bristling and disruptive businesses in his family's portfolio.
Travel has become a way of life, and its de facto necessity, the suitcase, a new expression of our increasingly experience-driven economy. In 2016, the global economic contribution from travel-related spending totalled $7.61tn. In 2005, international tourist arrivals (people landing in countries not their own) tallied about 528m. That number reached 1.19bn in 2015 and is expected to hit 1.8bn by 2030. The luggage market is growing with it. By 2020, yearly sales of luggage will surpass $67bn, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 6.03 per cent until 2022. The takeover was, in theory, a shrewd play.
"Everybody is talking about this shift from property ownership to experience ownership," says Arnault, who I meet in a quiet annex at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, where he has flown in to oversee a Rimowa pop-up boutique that has opened until its LA flagship is renovated. He has his father's tall, slim build and quietly polite manner. Unlike his father, he's wearing dark jeans, a white button-down and a black bomber jacket. He doesn't exactly fit the millennial executive aesthetic — there's a sense of an earlier era's decorum about him — but his attitude and rapid delivery suggest the same gauche confidence of the Silicon Valley set.
"Rimowa is in a position where it has the trust of its clients — and we are investing in continuing to build that trust — but also, the potential to take further steps and enter different kinds of projects and experiences for the millennial market."
Arnault's buyer base comes from a globetrotting spending group that "still shops, but wants the best. Quality over quantity." This also includes those clients who might make one or two high-end purchases per year, and do not necessarily have large amounts of disposable income. "Some brands of our group are tapping the millennial market really well, and some are just learning — we have the potential of being the modern one among the group."
Originally known as Kofferfabrik Paul Morszeck, Rimowa has always operated out of Cologne, Germany. Paul's son, Richard Morszeck Warenzeichen, came up with its current moniker (derived from the first two letters of each part of his name) in the 1930s. The luggage was always considered high-end; its trunks, wooden at the time, became particularly fashionable with voyagers in the 1920s. In 1950, Rimowa launched its now signature grooved "duraluminium" casing, inspired by the Junkers F13, an early commercial aircraft that used the same, or similar, compound in its build. Today, Rimowa sells polycarbonate bags, as well as a few select accessories such as briefcases and beauty cases. It remained a family-run business until the LVMH buyout.
"I have been using the suitcases for about 10 years now," says Arnault, who introduced the cases to his father and helped steer the acquisition. "My family would say, 'What is this?' Because they always used luggage from our group. I had one trip, to Santiago, in Chile, where the suitcase broke. I took it to the local Rimowa store, and they fixed it in two seconds." It's a mixed endorsement.
It was the service that really piqued Arnault's interest in the house. "Support is a huge hallmark of what we do. There are more than 200 service centres to repair suitcases. Plus, we partner with hotels, which can handle any needs or repairs without the client worrying — Dorchester Group, Mandarin Oriental, The Four Seasons — to simplify the lives of our customers."
The result is an unflinching brand loyalty: "People use their suitcases for 30 or 40 years. A John Doe sent us a letter, and then his suitcase, saying: 'I have been to over 70 countries with it, and I want to give it back to you. It should be in Cologne.' It has so many stickers on it, from the most luxurious palaces to a one-star hotel in an old ski town."
Like passports, Rimowa bags — with every adhesive, dent, nick, scratch or scrape, tell the narratives of their owners. And this record of where you've been — not what you own — has become one of the most fashionable expressions of luxury today. "Customers love the bags when they have aged," says Melissa Gallagher, Barneys New York's senior vice-president of men's footwear, accessories and home. "Particularly the aluminium cases after they have some dings. They are like travel badges of honour."
Everybody is talking about this shift from property ownership to experience ownership
Yet the case's fabled durability could be one of Arnault's biggest challenges in taking the business forward. He wants to reach new clients. He also needs to find a way of getting the loyal ones to come back.
A few endeavours are already under way: in mid-January, LVMH revealed a redesigned Rimowa logo, monogram and packaging suite. The "utilitarian" sans-serif font used in the new identity is meant to reflect the "functional luxury" of the product. The company has also already updated certain suitcases, installing an electronic tag that allows for luggage tracking on one's mobile device.
Arnault has other plans as well. "Customisation is one. This is something I have wanted to do since I first got involved. Kind of like the car configurators you see online," he says of the way BMW allows clients to build their dream car to their exact specifications, from exterior paint to the colour of the brake calipers. "Not only does this specifically differentiate a bag, it will keep customers coming back to our stores, because it provides for endless options to purchase. If you have one, why would you buy another? You aren't going to unless there is something cool to put on it, to personalise it with, or unless there's an entirely new suitcase altogether."
Collaborations are also key. Arnault is already using the LVMH conglomerate to lend their names to Rimowa projects; the first collaboration under Arnault's purview is with the Italian house Fendi, which itself has seen huge profits by diversifying its product categories and offering more lifestyle lines; it launched sportswear last year.
Rimowa x Fendi cabin suitcase, £1,690, fendi.comOther partnerships are expected to follow. In September 2017, Arnault posted an Instagram of two customised cases, all but confirming a collaboration with Virgil Abloh of the street label Off-White. And he published an image of a bag that had been customised by the hypewear label Anti Social Social Club. A spokeswoman insists: "Rimowa does not wish to communicate on this as [it is] not relevant." Whatever the internal strategies, one thing is certain: there will be plenty of Rimowa link-ups to come.
"Given the current trends in ready-to-wear, any collaboration that appeals to a streetwear consumer will elevate that brand while bringing in new customers," says Barneys' Gallagher.
Arnault also mentions going beyond the luggage vertical into other products, media services, and even hospitality. "There is no one spot for travel," he says. "Rimowa could potentially be your one-stop destination, not only for travel goods but for services and recommendations."
"I believe the acquisition of Rimowa by LVMH is a perfect match," says Marc Schwarz, director of guest experiences for Hersha Hotels and Resorts, a Philadelphia company that operates 120 hotels across the US. "LVMH is the world leader in authentic luxury lifestyle goods. And I think Rimowa has a vested interest in providing genuine, personalised experiences for its clients."
Schwarz, who began his career as a bellman at Ian Schrager's Morgans Hotel Group, has spent a long career observing traveller habits. "Luggage establishes a tone," he says. "In my prior life, I would always pay closer attention to the designer suitcases and bags and the guests who owned them." The cases were always more durable: "Any time we saw a Rimowa, we would breathe a sigh of relief!"
Rimowa has long been considered a luxury product, but the LVMH takeover, and Arnault's arrival, have repositioned the company among the industry's highest flyers. So far, no turbulence; a slick sliver of pearlescent black duraluminium case may well be the hottest travel accessory in the world right now. In the years that LVMH has majority-owned Rimowa, the house has performed very well. "For me, an exciting factor [for buyers across ages and groups] was the opening of Rimowa's London boutique on New Bond Street just before we got it," says Arnault. "It is our number one store. It proved to the world that we fit in among those brands and on that block and for those aspirations. Then you go into Gucci, and you see customers putting their purchases in Rimowa bags that they just bought. It shows that we belong."
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