Why Rimowa suitcases are such a strong cult object?

The ultimate perfect traveler’s status symbol nowadays consists of squared, in aluminum, dented and ultimately also see-through cases.
How did Rimowa bring a product like a suitcase so up high? But above all, why they are now a cult object?

Well, if you have asked yourself the same questions, below you will find the answers you are looking for.

Surely, since the beginning, Rimowa suitcases have been a real revolution for this market, starting from the materials they are made of, up to the iconic design that still the same.

The legendary dented suitcases have a timeless design, but at the same time, they are the result of a story that has years of study and research behind.
In 1919 RIMOWA witnessed the birth of a technical masterpiece that will be imprinted for a long time in its tradition: the launch of the first passenger aircraft with fully metallic fuselage, the Junkers F13. Its shape and its material will inspire RIMOWA forever.

In fact, as you can well understand from the picture above, the remarkable appearance of the F13 plane was later transformed into the iconic suitcase design, made for the first time ever, entirely in aluminum. With this innovation, there was a real revolution in the production of luggage that totally shocked this market sector.

So we can deduce from here that experience and ambition travel on two absolutely parallel tracks, but if you can find the way to intersect them, we can find where the definition of excellence is born, but above all the constant aspiration to perfection and a clear commitment to the spasm. A commitment that is not achieved only by setting high quality requirements. For a company that is the flagship of “German Engineering”, or German technology, quality is obvious and this is well known. But apparently RIMOWA has managed to go further from the beginning.

Regarding this, the brand posed to itself the following questions: What happens to the first man who reaches a peak? Or what is the first step on unknown terrain? Or even that cross the limits of the custom?

Steadily looking for the answers, RIMOWA chooses not to settle and decides to focus on that mindset intended to create something special.

This is how craftsmanship becomes true art.

However, how better way there is, to describe the perfect interaction of over 200 components?
Or the result of over 90 process steps to combine the most advanced technology with the precision of authentic manual work?
What deserves our greatest attention? Every detail.

Having a clear vision is also equivalent to having a more precise look. The research of the universal in particular. Whether it’s wheels, handles or any other component, for RIMOWA, studying every detail is not a simple pedantry narcissistic. It is a need.

The object, in a short time acquires a strong resonance especially in high society and rises to status symbol and cult object for the entire international jet set. And this still lasts today, when RIMOWA decides to tread the new millennium with an innovation that revolutionized the market again: Dieter Morszeck creates the first series of polycarbonate cases. The material, famous for aeronautics use, presents an enormous resistance to hits and impacts.

Here’s how, a new way of understanding lightness begins to make its way. The RIMOWA suitcases awake all the entire world’s desires and so the company’s internationalization is continuous.

For RIMOWA all of this, is still not enough and it feels the need to position itself in a much wider market.

Many special projects, such as capsule collections and unique pieces: in addition to limited editions created exclusively for Lufthansa and Porsche, it also realizes those for UNICEF, the Stradivarius case for the violinist David Garrett, and a special case for wine or even stem cells samples until the other ones for the conservation of WWF’s species. Remarkable, but basically today, who cares about all of this? Certainly not young people.

So why did RIMOWA baggage become such a cult object?

Of course not for its lightness. Sources assure that, even if you do not fill a RIMOWA aluminum suitcase, you may find it difficult to stay under the usual 20kg limit that many airlines impose (if you do not believe it, try).
Even not for the price, since the model in question is around € 800.

The answer is dated back in 2016, when the powerful French luxury company such as Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, bought the majority share, under the request of the then twenty-six year old Alexandre Arnault, whose grandfather, Bernard Arnault, is the CEO of LVMH.
To get hold of that slice of the market, so lacking in RIMOWA, the young Arnault, as the new CEO of the brand, has set itself the goal of making it relevant for Instagram generation.

So RIMOWA chooses once again to do not be satisfied. And what’s the better way to do it, than grabbing the sheep of the moment?

That’s how we see the launch of a product as a result of collaboration with two of the best known and commercial streetwear brands. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the RIMOWA x SUPREME, or event better the RIMOWA x OFF-WHITE collaboration, which offers a totally see-through suitcase to reduce the time required for security checks. A a decidedly smart move, if it were not that in the meantime the rest of the world, in just 2 minutes could know of how many underwear, condoms or sanitary towels you are carrying around.

In any case, this is when the brand had an out of the ordinary rise.

Nowadays, in fact, if you spend some time in the airports, or if you look at celebrities, influencers or teenagers posts, you probably notice how these aluminum suitcases appear more and more often.

But all this, on the other hand, is still consistent with the type of demographics that are always aimed to: frequent travelers who are growing upwards, but who do not necessarily travel on an unlimited business expense account. Or they are simply sons of the generation of contradictions, grown with the great democratization of traveling and accustomed to wander the streets, often pebbled, to reach their Airbnb and throw in a corner their overpaid baggage, often after travelled in economy class.

So the journey is the new currency and the millennials are the driving force. They are willing to pay to flaunt a status symbols (which they often do not have) more than for a product. The problem is that they ignore the fact that, in order to reach a status symbol, one must also have a certain type of baggage, which, however, does not consist of wheels or handles.

Posted By

Francesca Montuschi

Trendsetter sin dai tempi dell'asilo (già allora decidevo i miei outfit). Giornalista di moda, sempre alla ricerca di nuove tendenze, ma nostalgica dell'eleganza del passato.