Fat Francis / 10 August 2025 / Categories: Travel and Holidays, Product and Brands, Brands, Branded Products, Specialist, Sports & Leisure

Rimowa Utility Suitcases and Amenity Cases an LVMH Company

First Class travel cases are now highly collectible and going up in value

I had never heard of Rimowa until recently.

They are a German suitcase company who began making aluminium suitcases in 1937. The innovative super light design modelled on aircraft fuselage marked a significant moment in the brand's history and helped establish Rimowa as a leader in luggage design.

They introduced polycarbonate suitcases cases in 2000 and developed a niche very high end customer base for their functionality and practicality.

Then in 2016 more well known luggage brand Louis Vuitton parent LVMH acquired a stake in their first German brand, they picked up an 80% share in Rimowa for a cool 640 million euros.

I first saw the super cool amenity case on a Thai airways flight where the passengers travel kit came in a branded mini suitcase like this one.

They collaborated with FORMIA and World Planet to create these miniature travel cases, which are available in various colors and contain skincare products.

From the early 2010s, we saw the amenity kits offered on Star Alliance brand flights in first class on Nippon Airways, Lufthansa, and Thai Airways, as already mentioned and in business class on some EVA Air flights.

Since the luggage brand LMVH acquired a controlling stake in Rimowa of course the brand has been catapulted into the media and what was a niche luggage brand known for it’s quality and design amongst it’s customers is now way more aspirational.

I’ve read a lot of comments on Reddit about price hikes since the acquisition putting the luggage way out of reach for actual existing customers coupled with a deterioration in quality so like many premium brands looking for more margin the recommendation seems to be if you are going to buy a Rimowa suitcase find one pre 2016 for maximum quality and value.

I’ve seen the utility cases become very collectible over the last couple of years. Even bad colours in secondary markets are going for between £100 and £200 so if you’ve got one it might be wise to hang onto it as all airline partnerships from Rimowa have now ended.

My Utility case 2016 is very rare. It came from a goody bag for a launch event, a brand partnership between media and culture brand Monocle and Rimowa when they launched a pair of suitcases in army surplus green in conjunction with the London 2016 Olympics.

The monocle suitcases are now very collectible and I’ve never seen another utility case like it. If you manage to get your hands on one of these little stylish boxes, frequent flyers may have a few stashed away they are incredibly useful if you don’t want to carry a handbag.

They can fit a IPhone 16 max pro, your keys, your sunglasses, make up. Durable. Light, stylish, easy to carry.

It’s not surprising for me to see the price going up and up. I just spotted one in metallic blue in a charity shop for a staggering £145 and saw a highly collectible Lufthansa turquoise one (for me a not so attractive colour) go in a bidding war for £82 and based on the prices of others I’ve seen online that was a bargain.

If you’ve got one in your cupboard as a souvenir from a trip you’ve long forgotten about you might want to get it out, start using it or even make a few quid.

At the moment everyone is after a little piece of Rimowa and with the suitcases costing anywhere from £1000 and up the utility case is the brand’s “lipstick”,

Chinese fast fashion brand have even tried to get in on the action producing their own version with a forever strap, the distinguishing feature so you carry it like a cross body bag. Visually it looks very similar but don't be fooled into thinking at under £10.00 it's anything like the Rimowa version.