About Samsonite

This company's tag line - Life's a Journey - embodies the brand in all its forms, symbolizing the role the company has played in the lives of global travelers for 100 years. The company debuted in Denver, Colorado in 1910 under the development of Jesse Shwayder as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company. One of the first cases he produced was called the Samson, although he didn't change the product line to Samsonite luggage until 1966. Over the decades, the company has touched upon many different industries, including furniture and toys, most notably by manufacturing and distributing Lego until 1972 in the United States, and 1986 in Canada.

There's a curious history involving the company advertising, particularly a campaign developed by their previous competitor, American Tourister, in the 1970s. In the advertisement, a chimpanzee pounds its fists on a red American Tourister case, throws it around a cage, jumps on it, and finally drags it out the back door. Since the hard-side Samsonite cases are identified with strength and resiliency, many viewers thought the product, in fact, a Samsonite suitcase. There is a sense of balance now, as the company purchased American Tourister in 1993. Today, the company's growth had led to very careful diversification, adding wheeled Samsonite backpacks for computers, a selection of duffle and sport bags for golf and the gym, and travel accessories from Samsonite passport cases to luggage tags and toiletry kits. For this company, it's still all about the journey.