Luggage is The New Status Symbol: Are You An Away Or A Rimowa Woman?

Forget sports cars and designer handbags, in 2019 luggage is the only status symbol of relevance. Looking for evidence? At Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s bougie baby shower in New York this week (which is rumoured to have cost north of £329,000) a fleet of Away luggage was reportedly gifted to attendees that included Serena Williams and Amal Clooney.

The days of glamorous air travel may be in the past (for most of us) but luxury luggage is having a renaissance. If you spend time in airports, or on a travel influencer’s Instagram page, one thing is deafeningly apparent: there is an uptick in status cases. Seemingly, it doesn’t matter if you’re flying Easyjet or private jet, Goyard, Louis Vuitton, Rimowa and Away do not judge.

Celebrities have traditionally flocked towards French heritage brands, like Louis Vuitton and Goyard, with their iconic monograms and unparalleled lists of patronages that include royals and A-listers. But, in recent times, two plain, hardshell case companies have been enjoying the spotlight.

At the hands of Alexandre Arnault - the son and heir of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault - a 120-year-old German luggage company has become a global success story. There was a three-pronged process to the label's revival. First a redesigned logo, secondly an ex-Apple employee was hried as the chief brand officer and thirdly a coup of well-considered collaborations with the likes of Supreme, Fendi and Virgil Abloh’s ‘Off-White’ were pulled off. Now, these instantly recognizable ridged aluminium cases have become the piece you want to pick up from the arrivals conveyor belt.

Once beloved by war zone reporters and photographers for their sturdy shells, you’re now as likely to see the glint of one of these silver cases on Lily Allen’s Insta stories as wheeling between the photo pits of fashion shows. People buy branded stickers (£30 for a pack) to customise these cases, which is yet more evidence of how these pricey bags are meant to transmit a message about the owner's lifestyle and personality.

While a Rimowa will set you back some £700 for a cabin case, Meghan’s preferred luggage label, Away, represents the galvanized interest in travel cases at the other end of the price spectrum. Chiming in at £275 for a medium cabin bag, Away may have similar ridged hard shells to Rimowa and an equally influential fanbase, but the brand’s philosophy is wildly different.

Warby Parker alums Jen Rubio and Steph Korey founded Away with no formal experience in the travel industry. They wanted fair prices and cases that matched their outfits. 'The idea for Away came from a personal pain point,' Rubio tells Grazia, 'my suitcase broke while I was at the airport, and when I asked some of my most well-travelled friends, none of them could recommend any great replacements. It struck me that although luggage was something you take on every trip, there were no brands that people were genuinely excited associated with.'

No doubt, the success is tied to the lack of options for branded luggage at an affordable price-point and a direct-to-consumer model. They started with the ‘Carry-On’, a lightweight cabin bag available in 11 colours with a built-in phone charger. 'We talked to hundreds of travellers before we launched Away to understand how people travelled and what they needed from a suitcase. People told us they that needed something that was lightweight and durable, had high-quality features, and that would maximize how much you could fit, so we built our products with features that reflect those needs, and continue to iterate using their feedback today,' Rubio explains, 'Though it wasn’t something people expected us to solve, something Steph and I frequently heard was that it was really frustrating that people’s phones always died at the airport, so we included the built-in, but removable battery so our customers could always charge their phones, laptops, and other devices throughout their travel journey.'

Luggage is no longer about simply lugging your belongings from destination to destination, otherwise, 1million people wouldn’t have posted #luggage on Instagram. The question remains, we know which camp Meghan’s in, but are you more Rimowa or Away?