SAMSONITE PUTS SUSTAINABILITY AT THE FOREFRONT AHEAD OF EARTH MONTH

Samsonite, a worldwide leader in superior travel bags, luggage, and accessories, is highlighting its commitment to sustainable practices this Earth Month and beyond, from its production to greater brand mission. As a trusted source for high-quality and long-lasting travel essentials for more than 100 years, Samsonite’s eye towards sustainability is another step in its evolution to meet the needs of today’s consumer. 

As part of its sustainability principles, Samsonite showcases its proprietary Recyclex® material in its pinnacle collections - a technology that uses post-consumer or post-industrial recycled materials that are specially crafted to be durable, flexible and more environmentally sustainable. Since 2018, Samsonite has launched over 50 products using Recyclex® fabric, made from 100% post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) bottles, recycling approximately 52 million 500ml PET bottles and resulting in longer-lasting luggage. 

The Recyclex® lining takes center stage in Samsonite’s eco-friendly collection, Maxsum Eco, in addition to a hardside Polypropylene shell made of 483 recycled yogurt cups, for an extremely lightweight and impact-resistant case that stands up to Samsonites rigorous durability tests. In the case that any Samsonite product does need an upgrade, all products can be repaired worldwide, limiting the amount of replacements and easing the burden on landfills. 

“Samsonite’s mission is to help travelers journey further, with ever-lighter and stronger products.” said Ezequiel (Zeke) Hart, Global Head of Sustainability for Samsonite. “In our pursuit of sustainability leadership, we recognize that the most sustainable product is one that lasts. It’s straightforward: a product that lasts twenty years, for example, will have one-quarter of the impact over that period relative to four products that each last just five years before needing to be replaced. So, our priority is to ensure that our products are built to last. ” 

Taking its mission even further, Samsonite has partnered with Iris Worldwide, part of the broader global Cheil Network, to create a sustainability-focused creative campaign just in time for Earth Day. In an effort to encourage consumers everywhere to make more thoughtful travel choices, the campaign uses photography to bring to life a series of sustainably-minded character stories in various cities, each centered around the packing and unpacking decisions that travelers make. From an individual who chooses to avoid cars in order to stay fit and minimize their impact on the environment while exploring new places to a coffee lover who intentionally seeks out local, thoughtfully-sourced cuisine, all of these people have one thing in common: they choose Samsonite as their luggage brand of choice for eco-friendly traveling. The campaign will run in North America and include a spot in legendary Times Square.

“As a company, we care deeply about creating a positive impact with consumers and brands—and minimizing our collective impact on the environment,” said Elizabeth Hall, Managing Director, Iris. “Everything about this campaign, from the shoot strategy to the themes, aligns with our own production-related sustainability goals. Through this campaign, we’ve successfully created a dialogue with Samsonite’s consumers, showcasing the ways in which they could thoughtfully and proactively reduce their footprint on the journeys they choose to make, as opposed to dissuading them from traveling at all. In that way, ‘It’s not where you go, but how you get there,’ was built upon the desire for our global community to travel more sustainably and with greater awareness of our carbon footprint.”

“People everywhere are aware that the decisions they make have very real impacts on the world around them,” said Nicole Adriance, Senior Director of Brand Marketing. “That’s why we’re taking concrete steps towards sustainability across the brand, including current and future product development and campaign initiatives.”

The new campaign and product developments are just two of the facets of the luggage brand’s commitment to sustainability concerns. Samsonite’s approach to sustainability is under-pinned by its philanthropy strategy with a goal of protecting and preserving the planet by partnering with One Tree Planted, a 501 charity with a mission to help global reforestation efforts. Over the past two years, Samsonite has donated 20,000 trees.