Louis Vuitton The Essentials

The way in which the product lines were introduced in the 1892 catalogue revealed the ceaseless quest to develop new products and improve existing ones, both of which were driving forces for the Maison. The innovations unveiled by the Maison were the result of a perpetual, though positive, one-upmanship between Louis and Georges. Both their signatures appear on the patent filings.

Reinventing the travel trunk

Louis’s ambition had always been to improve upon the products already available on the market. In his day, trunks were sheathed in leather, with the leather odour permeating the clothes stored inside. Furthermore, though the domed lids shed rainwater, causing it to trickle down the sides, they made the trunks difficult to stack during transport.
Having observed these disadvantages, Louis offered a more practical, more elegant, waterproof and odourless trunk. Rather than sheathing his trunks in leather, he used a glued-on canvas. This “ordinary grey” (gris ordinaire) canvas would later be known as the “Trianon Grey” (Gris Trianon) canvas.

Louis redesigned the trunk structure to give it a flat lid, rimmed in iron, made sturdier still by nailed-on beech slats rendered lightweight through the use of poplar wood. This new “slatted” trunk (malle à lattes) was a way for Louis to stand out from the competition.

In 1867, convinced of the future success of his innovations, Louis decided to patent “a packing and travel trunk” protecting the design for a 15-year period, thereby establishing the signature codes of the Vuitton trunk: Trianon Grey, iron-rimmed corners, wooden slats, and rivets. In Louis’s opinion, this trunk had all the qualities needed for travel use: light, sturdy and protected the contents from impacts and water.

During the 1870s, the Maison perfected the trunks’ structures and interiors. The metal protective trim was replaced with leather for greater shock absorption. The inner lid was lined with padding (capitonnage) and tape or ribbon (rubannage) to protect very fragile items. The flat, stackable trunk frames in which travellers stored their belongings were fitted with compartments, making them more practical.

In 1885, Louis, together with his son Georges, improved the watertightness and security of the trunks with a patent for “a kind of hermetically sealed trunk.”

Variations on these themes continued the following year. The trunk, previously equipped with two locks backed up by a leather strap, was now fitted with a single central lock flanked by two spring-loaded buckles.

In 1887, the Maison began using the multiple tumbler lock, which would be perfected and registered as a “lock for travel and camping articles” in 1889.

The multiple tumbler lock was deemed inviolable and “unpickable.” The lock had one more noteworthy advantage: a one-of-a-kind key for each customer.

This innovation demanded tremendous skill and mechanical precision, so Louis and Georges sought the help of specialists. The locksmiths Fouchet et Delachanal were in charge of the new lock’s mechanical production. while engineers Marillier & Robelet, specialising in “intellectual property advice”, assisted Louis in filing the patent for the lock.

To every trip its trunk

sightseer’s outing or an explorer’s expedition. In 1875, he added the wardrobe trunk to his product lines. This type of vertical trunk had at least one side designed for clothes to be hung, so they could be used without having to be unfolded. This luggage saw more frequent use in later years, in part due to the advent of the narrower clothing styles of the 1910s.

Over the course of the 1880s, the types of luggage offered by Louis Vuitton became more clearly defined. Each piece of luggage had a specific, dedicated use: trunk for hats available in different sizes, trunk for shirts, a drawer trunk for easy access to one’s linens.

In 1885, Georges filed a patent for “a footlocker system with removable camp bed”.

It was a revolutionary piece of luggage that was soon sought after by explorers for their journeys of rudimentary comfort. This first expedition-style object - an objet nomade – was a seminal design for the Maison and is still manufactured to this day, by special order, in the Asnières workshops.

In October 1891, a few months before his death, Louis signed his last patent for a “new application of aluminium in the construction or covering of travel articles.” Much lighter and sturdier than zinc or copper, aluminium helped protect trunks subjected to extreme conditions (heat, shock, insects).

Louis thereby remained true to his three guiding principles: improvement and mastery of his savoir-faire, the ceaseless search for new products and complete customer satisfaction.

The canvases: often imitated, always protected

Louis Vuitton discovered that his creations were being copied by other manufacturers. An effective way to set himself apart from the competition would be to use a recognisable canvas on his luggage. He introduced new canvases. The striped canvas – first in a red-and-beige pattern starting in 1872, then a brown-and-beige stripe starting in 1876 – was designed to counterbalance the counterfeiting of the grey canvas. In 1877, the filing to protect the striped canvas design, available in several colours, was supposed to give Louis Vuitton exclusive rights to its use.

To prevent their being imitated, some Vuitton striped canvases bore a stamp of “Déposé”, the equivalent of a trademark symbol. The striped canvas was produced until the late 1880s. The Maison developed other types of striped canvas, such as the four-stripe canvas, a derivative of the classic two-stripe canvas. The striped canvas, however, was not immune to imitation.

In 1888, two new canvas designs were filed: the “caned” (cannée) canvas and the chequered (à damiers) canvas. The first, filed by Georges, bore “a cane motif that can be applied to canvases or other fabrics designed to be glued to the exterior walls of travel articles”.

The second had a greater destiny before it. Like the caned canvas, the design of the chequered canvas, given the name “Damier” for the French word for such a pattern, was filed by Georges to protect property rights on the design in perpetuity.

The pattern, composed of shades of brown, was marked with the trademark warning “Marque L. Vuitton Déposée”, another safeguard to protect against copying.

The 1896 arrival of the L.V. canvas did not steal the limelight from the Damier canvas, however, as the latter would continue being used until the late 1910s. The new Damier canvas was introduced in 1996, reviving the pattern on the Maison’s leather goods.

The Expositions Universelles, known in English as World’s Fairs, World Expos or Specialised Expos, are major international commercial and industrial exhibitions that began in 1851, the first being held in London. They were (and are) intended to showcase artisanal and industrial achievements of the world’s nations and their resulting innovations.

These events were and remain superb springboards for participating exhibitors, who garner recognition by showcasing their achievements, and can also burnish their reputations by winning any of the many prizes handed out.

Garnering recognition (1867, 1868)

Over the course of his life, Louis took part in six world expos held in Paris, Le Havre and London. At each event, he presented his latest inventions, which he carefully protected with registrations or patents beforehand. Blessed with fundamentally pragmatic sales instincts, he made sure that any new product on display was available for purchase.

In 1867, Louis attended his first Exposition Universelle, held that year in Paris on the Champs de Mars, and exhibited in Class 38, “Travel and Camping Articles”.

his new section, wholly devoted to travel articles, assembled accessories of astounding diversity designed for tourists and explorers alike.

This exhibition meant a great deal to Louis. To be able to attend, he asked his cousin Laurent for financial support, borrowing 7,000 francs and mortgaging his only asset: Asnières.

Louis had a two-metre-wide display window, in which he placed a number of “sophisticated travel trunks containing fashionable items”. This promoted his two-pronged business as manufacturer and packer, as well as drawing attention to his specialised skill in packing fashions.

At his very first such event as an exhibitor, he won the bronze medal for his “packing and travel trunk”, for which he had filed the patent the same year. This first award fortified Louis’s commitment to his ceaseless quest for innovation and excellence.

In 1868, the Exposition Maritime Internationale was held in the French port city of Le Havre. It was the first maritime exhibition ever to take place and was designed as a complement to the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle. Louis Vuitton was not listed in the official catalogue but did, in fact, take part in the exhibition. Exhibiting in Class 10, which encompassed “Travel and Packing Items, Weaponry”, he showcased his completely airtight and watertight zinc trunk designed for overseas travel, “mainly to India and Africa”. He was awarded the silver medal with the special mention of “Article d’emballage, bonne confection” (“Packing article, solid construction”).

Burnishing his reputation (1885, 1887)

In 1885, on the advice of his son Georges, Louis opened his first store in London at 285 Oxford Street. That same year, he took part in that city’s International Inventions Exhibition held in the Royal Botanic Gardens in South Kensington.

Louis introduced his bed trunk, which he had registered for property-rights protection the same year. He was awarded a silver medal for “Travel Article”, the only prize given in that category. By taking part in his first exhibition abroad, Louis opened the door to greater international exposure.

In 1887, a new Exposition Maritime Internationale was held in Le Havre. Louis competed in Class 16, “Exportation to the Colonies” and again displayed some of the brand’s emblematic models, such as his “camping beds and special trunks for the colonies and long crossings, resistant to dampness and invulnerable to any insect”. Louis did not win a prize, but was praised for the ingenuity of his bed trunk.

Arriving at the top (1889, 1890)

The 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris was the be-all and end-all of exhibitions. Over a period of six months, 32 million visitors came to admire the stands of 61,722 exhibitors. The exhibition spanned a full 96 hectares, crowned by Gustave Eiffel’s imposing structure: a 300-metre tower that would later become known as the Eiffel Tower.

With this exhibition, the family business had truly arrived: for his second Exposition Universelle, Louis was no longer a mere exhibitor. At the age of 68, elected by his colleagues, he sat on the installation committee for travel and camping items (Class 39).

Louis’s twenty-square-metre stand, on its own, took up one of the nine central platforms, the third-largest surface area in that class, and presented a wide variety of items from the Maison ranging from travel trunks to leather goods, including the famous “camping bed that can be entirely disassembled and stored in a small trunk.”

Louis was awarded a gold medal, the highest honour given travel items.

In 1890, Louis took part in an exhibition for the last time at The French Exhibition at Earl’s Court in London. As a matter of course, he was appointed as a judge and competed in Group 9, “Articles from Paris, Various Industries, Toys”. He received an hors concours medal, as can be traced through the Maison’s labels and catalogues.

Thus did Louis Vuitton, at age 69, definitively establish his station and reputation among France’s great manufacturers.

Renowned for the impeccable finish of his articles, a trailblazer in researching patterns, a fierce defender of his distinctive brand, which he protected with patents and trademarks, a man endowed with tremendous sales instincts, Louis now handed the keys to his success to his son, Georges, who inspired his father to showcase his ingenuity on more distant shores.