Travel light with Rimowa's aluminum collections

It’s happened to me more than once in more than one airport. While all my companions are worried about getting charged overweight luggage, I would calmly be lifting my Rimowa suitcase beside the check-in counter, and it is always well within the allowed weight.

At Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris last summer, my dark blue Rimowa was filled to bursting coming home yet it was only 22 kilos; on the way to Seattle on a recent trip, it was two-third full and it was only 10 kilos.

The reason I am mentioning this is because I am a traveler with my suitcase always so full, so hard to zip up, when coming home. In the past years, I’ve had to beg people behind the counter to just ignore four or five excess kilos. Sometimes they said yes, sometimes I had to pay for excess luggage.

I’ve never had to do that when using a Rimowa. It is the lightest luggage in the world  compared with heavy canvas or leather luggage, it’s practically featherweight  a trademark of the company since it was founded in 1898.

By the 1920s, the destiny of Rimowa was clear under the leadership of the company founder’s son Richard Morszeck, whose name the brand name was derived from.

In an age when people were truly excited to be traveling on ships and wooden trunks were being used, he was an innovator. When the jet age was starting, he was there in the forefront as well, coming up with another first: aluminum luggage. 

In 1937, Rimowa introduced the first aluminum trunks. In 1950, it introduced the aluminum suitcase with its now trademark grooves, which quickly became a symbol of style for the jet set crowd. The groove design has since become the signature of Rimowa products  recognizable around the world and proudly pushed, pulled or hoisted in airports and city streets. It is a brilliant design that allowed for stability while remaining lightweight.

In that romantic decade of the 1950s, pilots, icons and celebrities the world over could be seen toting the shiny, silver aluminum suitcases  designed and made in Germany.

Today, even with Rimowa’s very popular collections of luggage made of polycarbonate, its aluminum collections remain strong.

Pilot and Attaché aluminum business cases, both with the Rimowa Multiwheel Syetem, are the top choices, “probably the most tasteful and secure way to transport important documents and a second outfit.”

They are put the “business” to business trip.

According to Rimowa, “while it is possible to almost entirely rule out breaks or tears in the suitcase shells, scratches or dents may occur during travel. Larger dents can be easily removed, and signs of use like scratches and small dents give an aluminum suitcase the individual character that makes it unique. It’s not surprising that the aluminum luggage continues to grow in popularity. The most important raw material in manufacturing high-quality aluminum is bauxite, a weathered rock that exists plentiful in the earth‘s crust. This natural raw material also gives aluminum the unique quality of being a sustainable resource. Like precious metals, aluminum can be completely recycled in the same quality. In short, aluminum is used, not consumed.”

The Pilot collection offers the classic pilot case in three sizes while the Attaché collection is three briefcases with separate laptop bags.

Then there is the Topas, in production since the 1950s and has been evolving since. Because it was developed for the tropics, the Topas collection can withstand high humidity and major temperature fluctuations. The collection is composed of 11 different sizes with a telescopic handle system offering stageless adjustment for individual configuration of the handle and the height-adjustable flex-divider-system on the inside keeps the suitcase neatly organized.

Topas Titanium comes in a titanium look with brown polyjacquard lining inside. It comes in 10 different sizes. Topas Stealth “is for all those who expect a luggage range to deliver the latest trend, the most up-to-date technology and exquisite finishing. The black anodised aluminium is the perfect match for the aesthetic styling of the case’s interior. The collection also features the Add a Bag holder and the adjustable flex-divider-system, which, with its extra garment bag, makes sure that everything arrives just as it was packed.”

So, when you spot a modern silver, grooved suitcase anywhere in the world, you can thank Dieter Morszeck  a third-generation Rimowa heir  for making your travel lighter, prettier, and more convenient.

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Rimowa is available at Adora, Greenbelt 5. Rimowa boutiques are located at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5, level 1 of Power Plant Mall, level 2 of Glorietta 4, ground floor of Newport Mall, level 2 of Shangr-La Plaza Mall.