MILAN — Tumi inaugurated on Thursday its second store in Milan, which is a step in the brand’s ambitious retail expansion plan. This kicked off after Samsonite International acquired Tumi for $1.8 billion in March 2016.
“In 2017, we opened 12 new stores in Europe in key locations, including Paris’ Avenue des Champs-Élysées, London’s Covent Garden, Stockholm, Madrid, Moscow and Istanbul,” said Samsonite Europe president Arne Borrey. “We currently operate 35 stores in Europe and our goal is to reach 50 units within three years.”
The 1,292-square-foot boutique, featuring a sleek total-white look and giant windows, is located on pedestrian Via Vincenzo Capelli, in the heart of the new Porta Nuova district.
While Tumi’s historic store in Milan’s Golden Triangle luxury shopping district is more focused on the brand’s offering of high-end luggage, the new boutique carries a wider range of bags, backpacks and office accessories for both men and women.
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Even if Tumi is traditionally associated with the travel category, this actually only accounts for 30 percent of the brand’s sales in Europe. “In Europe, 70 percent of our sales are accessories,” said Borrey, revealing that backpacks are the best-performing category.
The U.S. is Tumi’s biggest market, followed by Asia.
Customization is one of the pillars of the brand’s offering. In addition to selling kits to personalize products with details in six colors, Tumi created a special corner in the new Milan boutique where customers have the opportunity to decorate their purchases with their initials.
“We are looking around but we haven’t concrete plans. We will see,” said Borrey, asked about the opening of additional stores in Italy, where the company also operates a store in Rome and a boutique in Milan’s Linate airport.
New shops in Madrid, Paris and Vienna will be inaugurated early next month.
Tumi has recently launched a new advertising campaign promoting the brand’s Latitude collection and fronted by Emmy-winning actor Alexander Skarsgård.