Samsonite\'s Global Creative Director, Quentin Mackay talks to Nepali Times on the similarities between cars and luggage. He also shares the brand's business outlook piracy combating plans, and explains why their luggage is so expensive.

Marcello Bottoli (CEO of Samsonite) mentioned in 2005 during an interview with Forbes that he would like the brand to stop relying on suitcase sales, and by 2010 reduce them to only 50% of its business.

Does that mean that Samsonite thinks the luggage business has limited growth?
Quentin Mackay: No. When 9/11 happened, one of the second things to be hit after travel was luggage. Then, it was 90 percent of our business. What we are doing is basically damage limitation, by directing a bigger fraction of our sales to other products. Also, prior to Marcello joining, Samsonite had 65 percent reliance on the US market and 30 percent on Europe. For the well-being of the brand in terms of financial outlook, we are also trying to bring down our reliance on the market in America, so if an event like 9/11 happens there again, we can keep up our sales in Europe and Asia.

How is the demand of the Asian market different from the rest of the world?
While most brands talk about being global, there are still regional and country differences. For various reasons Samsonite is perceived as a lower-range brand in the US, a middle-range brand in Europe, and a higher-range brand in Asia. Asians prefer smaller, lighter carriers and are bigger users of the hard side products (hard shell luggage). It is also interesting to observe that Asians favour quality, in terms of style, over durability while it's the other way for the Americans.

Piracy is particularly rampant in developing countries. Does Samsonite have any plans, or precautions to protect the intellectual property of your company?
"Suitcases are like cars, only you're the engine. Our brand makes it as easy for the engine as possible." Samsonite is kind of a victim of its own success because it is an innovator in its category. You can walk into a luggage stall and easily pull out one product that is inspired by Samsonite, but you just can't find where these things (pirated goods) are made. We have started patenting innovations and any new ideas we come up with. For example, we filed 75 patents on our X'Lite product, from mechanical to process, not just the looks.

As the Global Creative Director, how do you convince people to spend, say for example, $775 on an SBL Alexander McQueen?
I'm not a dictator to tell people to spend that sort of money. We know there are people out there who want it. They are the top 10 percent who move the consumer market forward. They love lifestyle magazines, innovations and gadgets, and are more than happy to splurge on certain things. What we're trying to do is make them think about luggage the same way they think about a handbag or a pair of shoes. We achieve this through design and innovation, adding emotion and sensuality to our products.

How do you improve your company's sales and brand awareness?
We intend to globalise the brand by consolidating the products and reducing the styles that we carry, basically creating a more latitude image. Also right now the brand has 17 different logos in different regions and 20 different colours associated with the logos. Our idea is to get one logo, one colour, to build a stronger brand identity