This expensive luggage may be key to LVMH’s future — here’s how Rimowa’s CEO plans to keep growing

Scores of competitors like Away, Samsonite, and Tumi have since unveiled similar styles — most for a fraction of Rimowa’s price.

Despite these other options, Rimowa’s fan base has remained loyal to the brand’s smooth wheels, timeless look, lifetime warranty, and status symbol title.

One buyer, Vanessa Garoute, 30, told Business Insider she considered herself a lifelong Rimowa client, having purchased six pieces since 2017.

Another, Tania Antonenkova, 32, estimated she and her husband have collected more than 17 of the high-end suitcases. (Martha Stewart, among other high-profile owners, also famously owns a collection of Rimowas and has publicly professed her love for the brand.)

For frequent travelers, Rimowa’s iconic suitcases have become as much a style statement as they are a necessity. Looking ahead, the company could continue to drill into this unique niche while expanding into more everyday accessories.

In early September, Rimowa unveiled its new Original Bag, a $2,125 aluminum cross-body purse with the company’s signature ribbed exterior. It’s “another step in the fashion space,” Bonnet-Masimbert said, and a hint of how the company hopes to progress in the coming years.

For a company so synonymous with luggage, it was an “interesting challenge,” the CEO said — one that took three years to develop.

The new purse isn’t Rimowa’s first move into the everyday accessories space. In the last five years, the company has debuted a growing portfolio of non-luggage products such as backpacks, duffle bags, and tote bags.

Luggage has remained its most popular product. However, according to Bonnet-Masimbert, these steps into the wearable market have been performing “extremely well.”

“We feel we are very legitimate in that space, and that opens a lot of future product offerings,” Bonnet-Masimbert said.

Expect more of it — “We have lots of things cooking,” the company’s CEO hinted.