The travel brand Antler acquired the intellectual property of Paravel, a direct-to-consumer luggage maker based in New York, in a liquidation auction last month, Antler said Tuesday.
Paravel, known for vintage trunk-style rollers and monogrammable totes, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May. Antler, which is owned by Australian travel retail chain Strandbags, won the auction for its IP, outbidding a number of other luggage brands and American retailers, according to Kirsty Glenne, Antler’s managing director.
Paravel was co-founded by Indré Rockefeller and Andy Krantz in 2016, one of a number of digital-first newcomers looking to shake up a category with incumbents like Samsonite that were slow to evolve. Other challengers founded in the 2010s include Away, Béis and Monos. But the category’s barrier to entry was low, with plenty of manufacturers in Asia that are able to produce branded polycarbonate shells. By 2025, the sheer volume of options for luggage had become dizzying for consumers.
One of the only ways to stand out was to spend on digital ads. One Paravel shopper told BoF in 2022 that he shopped the brand after being inundated with its ads on Instagram. “Those ads followed me everywhere,” he said.
Paravel shuttered suddenly this year, due to “operational failures,” Glenne said.
With Paravel in tow, Antler is setting out to build a global portfolio of travel brands, which also includes Strandbag’s own label, Nere, based in Australia. Strandbags purchased the 100-year-old Antler brand from its private equity owner Endless in 2020, forming the holding group that now includes all three labels.
The opportunity for Antler and Strandbag, Glenne said, is to leverage operational efficiencies while building out a lifestyle offering for each of the three brands.
“Our belief is that luggage has become much more of a cultural category and the opportunity is to spearhead that shift,” Glenne told The Business of Fashion. “The suitcase that was once a commodity, a function-led piece, is now similar to fashion, where it’s more about identity and what it says about you and your taste and lifestyle.”
Rather than rely on its own direct-to-consumer channel alone, Paravel under Antler will be distributed via wholesale channels too, which will help ease the cost of customer marketing.
Since its relaunch in 2023, Antler has grown its annual sales from £5 million to £45 million ($61 million) last year. Now, the group is eyeing £100 million in total sales by 2029. It plans to formally relaunch the Paravel brand sometime in 2026.
A Competitive Market
The luggage category is now deeply fragmented and crowded; while Paravel may have folded, plenty of its startup rivals are still in the game.
After a peak in 2023, US luggage sales slowed last year to $6.5 billion from $7 billion, according to Circana.
Antler has found success in the travel space by offering a classic plastic roller case in a muted palette and a line of attachable travel bags, among other travel accessories, sold both online and via third-party retailers such as Selfridges and Nordstrom.
Marketing the brand like a fashion label rather than a functional product has been key, said Glenne. Additional categories are also critical. During Wimbledon, the brand hosted an activation promoting its cross-body bags rather than luggage.
Antler plans to apply the same formula of sleek marketing, lifestyle positioning and category expansion to Paravel.
“Just to sell luggage would be a struggle,” Glenne said. “We position an attitude in our market, and our campaigns are very much a fashion aesthetic. We have a world of products — not just luggage but a travel uniform.”
