Gucci has opened its first permanent boutique dedicated to its Gucci Valigeria luggage and travel collection. Located in Paris at 229 Rue Saint-Honoré, the 2,900-square-foot-location was previously dedicated to Off-White.

The travel collection holds special relevance for Gucci as luggage including trunks and hatboxes were the first items sold in founder Guccio Gucci’s original 1921 Florence, Italy store.

Gucci concludes a three-month residency at London’s Savoy Hotel at year’s end. Located at what normally is the tea shop at The Savoy, the luggage pop-up paid tribute to Guccio Gucci’s history as a young man, luggage porter in the hotel.

The young Gucci watched guests coming in and out of the hotel with their exquisite luggage, inspiring him to found the artisanal luggage atelier.

“Gucci Valigeria is a powerful reminder of our Florentine roots and our timeless craft,” said Marco Bizzarri, the president and CEO of Gucci, calling the Paris store collection a “symbol of [the Gucci] legacy, reinterpreted through the ages for the travelers and modern-day explorers of every era.”

The Saint-Honoré store, in particular, was created to be “a portal into our ever-expanding world of travel and discovery,” Bizzarri concluded.

Train travel has figured heavily in recent Gucci marketing, a theme that is continued in the ground floor assortment of the new Paris store. Travel essentials like pajamas, beauty products, eye masks and even pet accessories populate the assortment.

Trunks are now available in regenerated Econyl nylon, as a new addition to Gucci’s ‘Off the Grid’ collection. A new collection of aluminum trolley suitcases, created in collaboration with Italian luxury luggage company FPM Milano.

The travel category has seen a “very positive momentum,” following the early November launch of the Valigeria campaign featuring Ryan Gosling and shot by photographer Glen Luchford. This was particularly visible in the “U.S., Europe and South Asia, where travel and tourist flows have restarted strongly following the relaxation of COVID-19-related restrictions,” Bizzarri explained in the press release.

Vintage trunks that are part of Gucci’s Vault Vintage drops have also been positively received, he added, due to the “timelessness that is naturally associated with travel.”

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