With Luggage, is More really MORE?
2026 Travel Goods Association show in Salt Lake City - image by Empire Luggage Center
There are more luggage brands than ever. So why do brands still want to enter the category?
This is a question I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years.
Back in 2025, The Business of Fashion published a piece called "Why Are There So Many Luggage Brands?" about an increasingly crowded category and what it would take to stand out.
And yet, the interest hasn’t gone away.
Lately, we’ve been having more conversations at Form Space with growing brands interested in expanding into travel. Often the entry point is (literally) softer: a tote, weekender, backpack or travel accessory.
But luggage frequently sits somewhere in the bigger vision.
Cole Haan is a timely example. The brand has made duffels, backpacks and travel accessories for years, but only recently launched its first luggage collections as part of a broader effort to build out its lifestyle and travel offering.
Which has me wondering: what is it about luggage that brands aspire to?
Part of it is practical. Travel gives a brand an entire ecosystem to build around and another part of the customer’s life to participate in.
But I think there’s something symbolic about luggage too.
A suitcase is a substantial product. It’s expected to last. It’s highly visible. And it asks a brand to have a point of view about function, materials, engineering, aesthetics and how people move.
In some ways, it feels like a stake in the ground. We’re not dancing around it anymore - we’re building a product world.
And maybe that’s part of why the category continues to attract brands even as it becomes more crowded.
The opportunity also looks different than it did a decade ago.
Does your brand have a point of view on the classic hard shell and what quality means today? Is it more technical and innovation-driven? Is the opportunity to bring a really strong brand and fashion perspective to travel? Or is it some combination of all three?
Here's what I'm interested in:
“What does this brand have to say about travel that isn’t already being said?”
-Jessica Lee, Form Space Cofounder, Product Designer
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