WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COM NOVEMBER 2017In 2003 he joined Tumi, becoming creative director
in 2016. His long tenure meant he was fortunate
enough to work under the company’s founder, Charlie
Clifford, who was “a fantastic mentor and leader,
instilling the values of what the brand is still about.”
Clifford taught Sanz a few simple but enduring tenets:
“Always focus on the customer; push to create
inspiring products; never rest on your laurels.”
More than 40 years since Tumi’s founding, the world
has changed – and Sanz understands this. “Now you
start your day in New York, end it in Milan, and then
fly on to Hong Kong. It’s no longer about going from
home to the office; the world has become your office.”
Sanz knows that his customers are going directly from
“the airport to meetings.” Today, he says, people want
their travel goods to be an extension of themselves.
“You spend a lot of time with your luggage, you live
with it, it’s your home away from home.”
Sanz is sure that Tumi’s success comes from a
deep understanding of its customers and that using
their feedback is key. He strives to maintain close
relationships with store managers and also chats
to people anonymously at airport baggage
carousels. “A great idea is a great idea,” Sanz says.
“It doesn’t matter where it comes from –
whether from bumping into a
stranger in a departure lounge,
or from a top Tumi designer.”
Designing luggage presents
a specific set of challenges,
from weight and size limitations
imposed by airlines to demands
for durability. Sometimes Sanz
develops products solely based on
his perception of how the world is
changing. At other times he responds to an innovation
or a new material. “Up next is a new material called
SRPP, self-reinforced polypropylene.” Tumi strives to
marry engineering and design so that the lines
between the two become blurred. “We are able to
remove parts, to minimize the number of elements that
can fail, through engineering,” Sanz says. This rigorous
design process means that if a problem does occur
with a zipper pull, a wheel, or a handle, it can be fixed
in-store in minutes.
Above all, Sanz is constantly pushing his team to
deliver products that stand out, in an industry
where a degree of sameness is the norm. But there
is very little design for design’s sake. Everything
has to have a purpose. And that’s where the
challenge lies, because the products have to be
beautiful as well as functional.Holding more
than 125 patents,
Tumi has ensured
its products are
designed and
engineered to
have readily
fixable partsBelow: Sanz
strives to create
products whose
functionality
is enhanced by
aesthetic appealAiming to be the best in class, Tumi recently
launched its first aluminum cases in a collection called
19 Degrees. Sanz claims that this collection combines
“architecture, design, art and travel” in a style that is
characterized by sculpted angles that push past being
merely utilitarian. “It is an example of how luggage can
almost become a piece of art,” he adds proudly.
From the first sketch to the first sample, there is an
enormous amount of testing, in the lab and on the road.
Sanz travels with prototypes, and has been known to
take four on a trip because he wants to discover first-
hand what is working and what isn’t. Out of the cases
Sanz took with him on a recent journey to China, he is
particularly fond of an early model of 19 Degrees.
Another bag has been around the world about 10 times,
and been lent out to people on multiple occasions, with
“the objective to put this thing through the ultimate
paces; it’s still surviving!”
But where does the man who has traveled the world
many times over most like to be? Sanz tells me that his
favorite places are Tokyo and “anywhere in Italy.” But
home, he says, will always be the East Coast, where
he was born, raised and still lives.BBOAT LIFEPHOTOGRAPHS: PRESSPHOTOS; @VICTORSANZDESIGN
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