Creating a transparent supply chain: how Samsonite and Circularise are leading the future of sustainable luggage

For more than a century, Samsonite has been a leader in travel innovation, producing durable, high-quality luggage designed to withstand the test of time. But in today’s world, durability alone isn’t enough. With increasing regulatory pressure and consumer demand for sustainable products, Samsonite is enhancing its efforts to highlight the responsibility behind its production, ensuring that its suitcases continue to meet high standards of durability and sustainability. To achieve this, Samsonite turned to Circularise, a product traceability platform. Through this collaboration, Samsonite has taken major steps to increase their knowledge of the supply chain and be able to provide sustainability claims backed up by data.

In an era of heightened environmental awareness, companies can no longer rely on broad sustainability commitments without concrete evidence. Consumers, regulators, and investors are asking deeper questions: Where do materials come from? Are they truly sustainable? Can companies prove their claims? For Samsonite, these questions became central to its strategy.

The company has long focused on sustainable materials, circularity, and responsible sourcing. However, as global regulations continue to evolve, traceability became a necessity rather than an ambition. To lead by example, Samsonite needed a system that would allow them to track materials across their entire supply chain, ensuring compliance with European regulations while providing customers with full transparency.

By partnering with Circularise, Samsonite found a solution that not only met these needs but also respected supplier confidentiality, as Circularise’s Smart Questioning technology allows companies to share only the necessary sustainability and compliance data while protecting sensitive business information, making traceability practical and scalable.

Through its partnership with Circularise, Samsonite aims to:

• Strengthen sustainability communication by backing claims with verified data and proof.
• Build hands-on experience with supply chain traceability, with a focus on tracking recycled materials, involving key suppliers, and understanding the process and workload.
• Test the market response to digital product passports, exploring what information consumers find valuable and relevant.‍
• Prepare for a full-scale roll-out of digital product passports across all products by learning from this phase.

In 2022, Samsonite took its first step toward full supply chain transparency by launching a digital product passport (DPP) pilot in partnership with Circularise. The project focused on the Magnum Eco Spinner suitcase, a product made with recycled materials from leading polymer supplier LyondellBasell. As a result, Samsonite was able to track key sustainability data, verify the materials used and learn from first-hand experience of implementing digital product passports.

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive. After presenting the pilot results at K-Show, a global industry event, it became clear that both consumers and industry leaders were eager for more transparency. 

Building on the momentum of the first pilot, Samsonite launched a second, more ambitious phase of the project in December 2023. This time, the company chose two additional suitcase models—one manufactured in Belgium and another in Hungary—to further investigate the complexities of supply chains across different regions. The goal was to track not just the recycled materials used in shell production, but also the components sourced from suppliers across Asia and Europe.

This phase required deeper collaboration with suppliers, from component manufacturers to raw material providers, ensuring that every stage of the process could be traced. As a result, Samsonite successfully achieved 86.7% traceability of the total product, with 100% of the recycled material fully traced back to its source. The company also worked with 15 suppliers to gather essential data, a crucial step in preparing for upcoming European regulations that will require greater supply chain accountability.

These initial pilots focused on understanding the challenges of end-to-end traceability and defining key data points rather than customer communication. As part of this effort, Samsonite developed digital product passports, providing verified data on material sourcing, recycled content, and regulatory compliance. While these passports are not publicly available, the pilot has established a scalable framework for expanding traceability and launching the next public project with Circularise.

On Earth Day Samsonite launched two groundbreaking circular luggage collections: ESSENS™ Circular and PROXIS™ Circular, both powered by Circularise’s digital product passports.

These launches marked a major step forward in Samsonite’s sustainability journey, combining innovative materials, verified data, and supply chain transparency. Circularise facilitated the onboarding and management of data from more than 30 distinct suppliers, successfully overcoming significant logistical and communication challenges. The platform enabled seamless data integration, giving Samsonite clear oversight of material origins, supporting regulatory compliance, and accelerating the shift toward more sustainable solutions.

‍ESSENS™ Circular: Maximising Recycled Content

The ESSENS™ Circular suitcase was developed with a strong focus on increasing recycled content. It is available in two sizes: SP55 and SP75. The ESSENS™ Circular SP75 went from 50% to 70% in recycled content.

The journey of the ESSENS™ Circular includes:

• Dismantling of old suitcases at Aarova, a social workplace
• Shredding of the outer shells by Tivaco
• Material blending by LyondellBasell, combining shredded suitcase parts with post-consumer household waste
• Production of new suitcase shells using this high-recycled-content blend by Samsonite

The full supply chain was tracked using Circularise, ensuring material transparency from collection to finished product.

PROXIS™ Circular: Introducing Bio-Circular Materials

PROXIS™ Circular SP75 went up to an impressive 65% in recycled and bio-circular content, marking Samsonite’s first use of bio-circular materials in luggage production.

Key innovations include:

• Used cooking oil converted by LyondellBasell into polymer-grade material via a mass balance approach
• This material is used to create bio-circular films
• Samsonite then produced ROXKIN™ shells for the suitcase using these films

This is the first Samsonite suitcase that incorporates bio-circular materials in its shell. The product is certified under ISCC PLUS, confirming the bio-circular origin of materials.

• 8,000 suitcases produced
  
• 5 SKUs across both collections
  
• 27 suppliers involved
  
• ~ 3000 data points collected
  
• ~ 100 material batches tracked
  
• 100% of recycled content traceable through the supply chain
  

The focus of the digital product passport initiative has been to provide clarity on the percentage of recycled and bio-circular content, material types used and carbon footprint of each suitcase.

This push for openness hasn’t just benefited Samsonite. Many suppliers participating in the project took the opportunity to improve their own data collection processes, recognising the growing importance of sustainability and traceability in their operations.

The Digital Product Passports— now accessible via QR codes on each suitcase—offer consumers detailed insights into the manufacturing journey of their luggage. This innovation not only enhances trust but also positions Samsonite as a committed contributor to circular economy practices within the travel industry.

Despite the successes, achieving full traceability was not without its challenges. One of the biggest hurdles was ensuring supplier participation. Many suppliers were unfamiliar with product traceability systems and needed training to understand both the value of the project and how to use the Circularise platform. Language barriers also added complexity, requiring multilingual support and clear, visual instructions to ensure seamless adoption across diverse supplier networks.

Engaging with European suppliers presents another challenge for traceability projects like this one, as they are often highly cautious about sharing sensitive information. Circularise’s flexible approach to data sharing helped alleviate these concerns. The platform enables companies to control how much information they disclose, allowing businesses to comply with regulations while maintaining confidentiality where needed.

The results of the collaboration have reinforced Samsonite’s position as a leader in sustainable supply chain management, but this is just the beginning. As supply chain traceability becomes an industry norm, companies that embrace digital solutions will gain a competitive edge. Samsonite’s work with Circularise is not only helping to future-proof its operations but is also demonstrating that transparency is possible, scalable, and beneficial for businesses, suppliers, and consumers alike.

With global regulations evolving and consumer expectations rising, Samsonite’s work with Circularise is setting a benchmark for the luggage industry. Companies across chemicals, fashion, electronics, and automotive industries are now looking at similar traceability solutions. As transparency becomes the norm, the message is clear: the time to start is now.