We want to help reduce the impact of our customers’ journeys by offering durable, high-quality products, increasing our use of more sustainable materials and production processes, and designing for repairability and recyclability.

CLOSING THE LOOP

As the world fully resumes travelling, we want to do our part and help reduce the impact of our customers’ journeys by offering them sustainably designed products: built to last, made efficiently and with recycled or renewable materials, easily repaired rather than replaced, and able to be recycled or repurposed at end of life. Ultimately, we want to be able to close the loop, where possible, by re-using materials from old products to make new ones.

Life cycle assessments are the powerful tool that allows us to compare different products and product scenarios to help find emissions hotspots. Doing so helps us make targeted changes to have the most impact in reducing GHGs, but without losing product quality and durability.”

Nathan Vanden Bulcke Innovation Project Engineer, Samsonite Europe

Magnum Eco

The largest case in our new collection is made from recycled polypropylene equivalent to 483 yogurt cups, and recycled PET from 14 plastic bottles.


GIVING PLASTIC WASTE A SECOND LIFE

Since 2018, we have diverted more than 200 million 500ml PET bottles from landfill through the use of our Recyclex™ Material Technology.

LIFECYCLE THINKING

We consider more than just the embodied carbon in the material itself:

We prioritize solutions that reduce the carbon footprint of a product over its entire lifecycle. 

RHUNE

The environmental impacts of Gregory’s new Rhune backpack range have been reduced by up to 57% compared to the same products made from conventional (virgin) nylon.


PROGRESS REPORTS

The Samsonite Essens collection is the brand’s most sustainable suitcase yet. The shells are made with at least 70% recycled polypropylene from post-consumer waste, and the interior lining and webbing are made with 97% and 100% recycled PET respectively.


Gregory’s Deva and Baltoro collections saw a carbon footprint reduction in 2022 of 31% by using recycled materials and eliminating 50% of the HDPE of previous design.


American Tourister’s new Urban Track range, launched in 2022, is our first duffle bag collection made fully from recycled materials. The large-wheeled duffle uses an amount of rPET equivalent to up to 42 recycled plastic bottles.


Tumi relaunched its iconic Alpha Bravo collection with recycled nylon. It also uses rPET in the interior linings, exterior and interior webbing – and even zipper tapes. 

ENCOURAGING RECYCLING OF OUR PRODUCTS IN EUROPE AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 

In 2022, we expanded our We Recycle Your Suitcase promotion in Belgium and the Netherlands. The invitation was simple: bring in a hard-side case from any brand, we’ll recycle it, and give you €20 towards a new Samsonite product. Over 1,290 cases were brought in for recycling and the hard shells were turned into non-food packaging material.

In Malaysia and Indonesia, we promoted two product takeback campaigns with our partner WWF that recycled over 4,300 cases from customers into new, useful products including flower pots and paving blocks.


ESSENS

The new Essens collection is Samsonite’s most sustainable suitcase yet. The shells are made with at least 70% recycled polypropylene from post-consumer waste, and the interior lining and webbing are made with 97% and 100% recycled PET respectively. For the largest case this is the equivalent of 466 yogurt cups and 16 5-liter bottles. These materials are part of Samsonite’s Recyclex™ Material Technology initiative.

ESSENS marks another important milestone in our sustainable journey. It’s the first collection where we have applied circular design principles from the start, taking into account the full life cycle of the product and optimizing it to have the lowest impact on our planet."

Pauline Koslowski Vice President, Research, Innovation & Development, Europe

NEXT STEPS IN 2023

  • Continue to evolve our approach to the circular economy – including developing reuse and recycling solutions and consolidating results from our partnership with Maastricht University on recycled material testing
  • Define sustainable product KPIs and targets
  • Continue to expand our use of recycled materials across our product portfolio
OUR REPORTS AND POLICIES

We have published an Environmental, Social and Governance Report since 2016 and continue to share our progress on an annual basis. 

You will also find our statement on Modern Slavery in this section.

FIND OUT MORE