The Luxury Luggage Brands Actually Worth It

Luxury luggage occupies a strange category: it’s meant to be used, scuffed, checked, and dragged through airports, yet the best pieces are built — and priced — like heirlooms. The houses below represent genuinely different philosophies on what that means, from aluminum engineered like aircraft fuselage to hand-painted canvas that takes weeks to produce. Here’s what separates them — along with two contemporary brands worth knowing if a heritage price tag isn’t the point.

Photo Credit: Cody Lidtke

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The Heritage Houses

Rimowa

Founded in Cologne in 1898, Rimowa built its reputation on the grooved aluminum shell it introduced in 1950, a design directly inspired by the Junkers F13, one of the first all-metal passenger aircraft. That rigid silhouette remains the most recognizable in luxury luggage today, now available in both aluminum and polycarbonate. The LVMH-owned house recently opened its largest store in the Americas on Madison Avenue, and its collaboration calendar has stayed unusually active, including a 2026 furniture partnership with Vitra and an ongoing eyewear collaboration with MYKITA.

Best For: The Aviation-Inspired Original

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Louis Vuitton

No house did more to invent the modern concept of luxury travel than Louis Vuitton, which introduced its flat-topped, stackable trunk design in 1858, replacing the domed trunks that had dominated travel until then and making efficient stacking on ships and trains possible for the first time. The monogram canvas remains instantly recognizable nearly 170 years later, and the house continues to mine its trunk heritage for genuinely surprising releases, including a revived bed trunk originally designed in 1868 for explorers.

Best For: Trunk-Making Heritage

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Globe-Trotter

Despite its thoroughly British reputation today, Globe-Trotter was actually founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1897, relocating to England in 1932. Its defining material, a patented vulcanized fibreboard made from layered paper, cotton, and wood pulp, remains unique in luxury luggage and gives every case its distinctive lightweight rigidity. The house has leaned into collaboration in recent seasons, including a 2025 Aston Martin F1 partnership and an ETRO collaboration launching in 2026.

Best For: British Heritage Styling

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Hermès

Hermès began as a Paris harness and saddlery workshop in 1837, and that leather-craft foundation still defines its approach to travel goods today. The current R.M.S. (Rolling Mobility Suitcase) line uses toile canvas with leather trim rather than the exotic-skin trunks the house built its early reputation on, but the price and craftsmanship remain at the top of this list by a wide margin.

Best For: The Ultimate Splurge

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Goyard

Goyard’s lineage traces back to the House of Martin in 1792, taking the Goyard name in the 1850s, and its signature Goyardine canvas has been in continuous use since 1892. Worth knowing before you go looking for one: Goyard does not currently sell a modern, ready-to-wear rolling suitcase. Its actual trunks exist primarily as bespoke commissions or vintage pieces trading on the resale and auction market, often for well into six figures. Its current retail core is handbags and totes rather than travel cases.

Best For: Bespoke Trunk Commissions, Not Off-the-Shelf Luggage

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Moynat

Revived by LVMH in 2010 after decades of dormancy, Moynat’s history dates to 1849 in Paris, where it built an early reputation on gutta-percha waterproofing patented in 1854. Today the house is best known for its hand-painted “M” canvas monogram, and it has leaned into playful artist collaborations in recent seasons, including a second consecutive capsule with artist Kasing Lung in early 2026.

Best For: Rare, Revived French Heritage

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Berluti

Best known for menswear and its Venezia leather patina technique perfected over decades, Berluti’s Paris house dates to 1895 and extends its signature hand-applied leather treatment into a full travel line, including trolleys and soft luggage.

Best For: Menswear-Driven Leather Luggage

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Valextra

Founded in Milan in 1937, Valextra takes its name directly from “valigia,” the Italian word for suitcase, and built its early reputation on exotic-hide luggage designed for the first generation of commercial air travel. The minimalist, logo-free aesthetic has made it a favorite among fashion insiders drawn to quiet luxury, and the house remains privately held rather than part of a larger conglomerate.

Best For: Quiet Luxury Travel Goods

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The New Guard

Away

Founded in 2015 by Steph Korey and Jen Rubio after Rubio’s own luggage broke and she couldn’t find a brand that was both design-forward and reasonably priced, Away built its reputation on a $225 hard-shell suitcase with a built-in USB charging port and compression system — features that felt genuinely new to travel retail at the time. Rubio, now CEO following a leadership transition through Korey and later Lululemon executive Stuart Haselden, has positioned 2026 as something of a brand comeback moment. It isn’t a heritage house in the way the rest of this list is, but it’s the brand most credited with making direct-to-consumer luggage a real category.

Best For: Design-Forward, Accessible Travel

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BEIS

Launched in 2018 by actress Shay Mitchell, BEIS built its identity around making luggage that felt more considered and more fun than the standard black suitcase, without pushing into premium pricing. It sits solidly in the mid-tier — more expensive than big-box basics, but noticeably below Rimowa or Tumi — and has expanded into a full travel lifestyle brand, including a recent push into men’s luggage.

Best For: Fun, Approachable Everyday Travel

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Monos

Founded by Canadian entrepreneurs Victor, Daniel, and Hubert, Monos set out to modernize the direct-to-consumer luggage category with a design-forward, quality-focused approach as an alternative to legacy travel brands. The brand’s core polycarbonate collection sits alongside a newer aluminum line, using anodized and electroplated aluminum with a brushed finish for a look that visually echoes far pricier hard-shell luggage. (Flagging: I couldn’t confirm exact current pricing on the aluminum collection from search — worth a direct site check before publishing a specific number.)

Best For: Modern, Design-Forward Everyday Luggage

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For more of Haute Living’s latest travel coverage, see The Top 10 European Summer Destinations for the Rich & Famous and Where the World’s Wealthiest Travelers Will Actually Go This Summer.

FAQs

Why is Rimowa luggage so recognizable? Rimowa’s grooved aluminum shell, introduced in 1950 and inspired by the Junkers F13 aircraft, remains one of the most recognizable designs in luxury luggage.

Can you buy a Goyard suitcase? Not in the conventional sense — Goyard does not currently sell a ready-to-wear rolling suitcase; its trunks exist as bespoke commissions or vintage pieces on the resale market.

What is Globe-Trotter’s luggage made of? Globe-Trotter uses a patented vulcanized fibreboard made from layered paper, cotton, and wood pulp, giving its cases a distinctive lightweight rigidity.

Where does the name Valextra come from? Valextra takes its name from “valigia,” the Italian word for suitcase, reflecting its origins as a luggage-first house founded in 1937.

What is the most expensive luxury luggage brand? Hermès is the most expensive brand on this list, with its R.M.S. suitcase line starting at roughly $13,200.

Who founded BEIS luggage? BEIS was founded in 2018 by actress Shay Mitchell, positioned as a mid-tier, design-forward alternative to both big-box basics and premium luxury luggage.