Samsonite

Samsonite is the leading manufacturer of luggage in the world and the top seller of luggage in the United States, Europe, and Japan. In addition to its world-renowned Samsonite label, the company also markets the popular American Tourister brand. Under those names, Samsonite offers a full line of luggage, including softside and hardside suitcases, garment bags, casual bags, business cases, and other travel bags and accessories. Samsonite changed ownership several times during the 1980s and early 1990s before regaining its independence in 1995. Samsonite owes its start to Colorado native Jesse Shwayder. After growing up in the American West during the late 1800s, Shwayder was working in New York as a salesman for the Seward Trunk and Bag Company by his mid-20s. He was making a lot of money, but he missed Colorado and longed to pursue his dream of starting his own business. Thus, Shwayder quit his job when he was 28 and moved back to Denver. Shortly thereafter, on March 10, 1910, he founded the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company with his life's savings of $3,500. With a work force of ten men, Shwayder began manufacturing what were known as "suitcases" in a 50 × 125 foot room that he had rented in downtown Denver. The management philosophy he adopted to guide the firm from day one, according to company annals, was the Golden Rule (do unto others ... ), to which Shwayder adhered tenaciously. The Shwayders' success was no accident. Indeed, Jesse drew from his work experience in New York to develop a strategy that he would pursue from the start. He realized that he was facing stiff competition from deep-pocketed luggage manufacturers. So, rather than trying to compete with other luggage companies on price, he would differentiate his products by quality and charge as high a price as the market would bear. To reflect the quality and durability of their luggage, the Shwayders named their first products "Samson" after the powerful Biblical character. Indeed, the chief advantage of the cases was that they could take a lot of punishment and were extremely durable. In 1916, in fact, the Shwayders took a picture that would become an advertising coup. The four brothers and their father, Isaac, stood on a plank positioned atop one of their suitcases above the caption; "Strong enough to stand on." Because the five portly Shwayder men weighed more than 1,000 pounds together, the picture was striking and became an excellent promotional and direct-mail advertising gimmick for several years. Shwayder Trunk's revenues bolted to more than $1 million during the late 1920s and sales, particularly to the eastern United States, exploded. To keep pace with demand, the Shwayders leased an 85,000 square foot factory near Detroit. With that plant up and running, the company seemed almost unstoppable. Unfortunately, the 1929 stock market crash and succeeding Great Depression quashed that perception. Indeed, Shwayder Trunk's shipments plummeted by 50 percent within a few years. The brothers, scrambling to meet payroll and pay their bills, began trying to supplant lost luggage sales by manufacturing products ranging from license plates and card tables to stilts, doggie dinettes, and sandboxes. To reflect the diversification, the brothers changed the name of their company in 1931 to Shwayder Brothers, Inc. Interestingly, the Shwayder's card table sales briefly surpassed luggage shipments during the 1930s. Despite their setbacks in the luggage industry, the Shwayders continued to improve their luggage and invent new travel products. By the 1930s, in fact, the Denver luggage plant was the most modern of its type in the world. From that plant came innovative Samson luggage with exclusive features such as wood-frame construction, super-strong handles, rayon linings, fiber finishes, and secure locks. Specialty fibre finishes were developed by Shwayder Trunk specifically as a covering for Samson suitcases. In 1939 the company introduced a unique suitcase that J