Luggage brands on high-growth path as travel industry booms

India’s travel renaissance is driving a luggage revolution, with sales doubling, attracting global brands and sparking investor interest in a category previously perceived as ‘low-involvement’, industry executives said.

“We are seeing 100% year-on-year growth in the premium range with global brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Delsey Paris. The affordable range is seeing 40%+ year-on-year growth on brands like Safari, Kamiliant, and Aristocrat, also from tier-3 and 4 cities,” said Saurabh Srivastava, vice president at Amazon Fashion India.

Reliance Brands has partnered with German luxury luggage brand Rimowa to open luxury stores in India. The first store opened recently at Jio World Plaza in Mumbai.

Licensing company Dream Theatre is set to soon launch a range of premium luggage under football legend Diego Maradona’s franchise, said Jiggy George, chief executive, Dream Theatre. The company recently acquired rights to launch the Diego Maradona Consumer Products programme in India from Podium Icons, a division of Podium Brands Group in the UK.

The luggage business is also seeing a spurt of direct-to-consumer brands like Mokobara, Nasher Miles and Uppercase.

D2C travel accessories company Acefour Accessories, which recently raised $7 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures, is scaling up its portfolio beyond backpacks and trolley bags.Ratings agency Crisil estimates the luggage market at ‘15,000 crore, with the organised players having a 40% share. It predicts the sector to report a 15% increase in revenues this financial year. “Organised luggage makers are set to double capacity and ramp up retail presence by 35-40%, drawing up total capital expenditure of ‘700 crore this fiscal,” Crisil said in a report. It added while the capex would increase debt levels, overall capital structure and coverage metrics is unlikely to be materially impacted due to improved cash accruals.

Earlier this month, global luggage maker Samsonite announced partnerships with six Indian influencers including Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok, actor and fitness buff Milind Soman, tennis player Sania Mirza and beauty brand Mamaearth co-founder Ghazal Alagh, for its campaign called ‘tested like Samsonite’.

Anushree Tainwala, executive director, Samsonite South Asia said in a statement that the brand is “pushing boundaries” by partnering with a line-up of celebrities.

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