Gilles Bariguian, CEO, Delsey, at the opening of a showroom in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh

Delsey, a Paris-based luxury luggage brand, iplans to manufacture its backpacks in India.

Speaking to businessline on the sidelines of its exclusive store launch in Chennai, Gilles Bariguian, CEO, Delsey, said the company is currently evaluating factories and contract manufacturing partners and expects production in India to begin by Q1 2027. 

“The bags will be designed and engineered by our teams in Paris and then manufactured by our suppliers here. The key is to commit to the volume and designing the right bag, in line with what we want to do for the India market,” he said

Delsey currently operates a leather line in Kolkata but is evaluating factories across India for the backpack unit, he added. 

The company, which makes premium suitcases, backpacks, handbags and other travel accessories, has seen ‘high double-digit’ growth in India over recent years, making it the fastest growing market globally. India accounts for about 5 per cent of Delsey’s global topline.

On the positioning for a luxury brand amongst more value-oriented Indian competitors, Bariguian said as Indians increasingly travel abroad, they are looking at premium travel accessories. Unlike other incumbents, Delsey is not looking to be a mass market player with significant market share but instead focusing on the design-led premium segment with products that offer what he describes as a  ‘Parisian flair’. 

Premium offerings

“We are present in over 100 countries and have 2,600 points of sales. More and more Indians are traveling to Europe, US etc and they see our brand and our stores in these markets. I think this helps us to convince the Indian consumers to look up and look at the more premium offerings” he said. 

On the war in the Middle East and resulting supply chain disruptions, Bariguian said the company has seen an increase in costs, with plastic raw material prices rising by about 25 per cent while freight costs have doubled . He added that shipments to Middle East markets have become more difficult. 

Shashank Kumar, Director and Country Head for Delsey in India, said about 20-25 per cent of the company’ sales come from e- commerce, 45 per cent from exclusive stores, while the rest come from multi-brand outlets. When compared to markets like US and China, the share of e-commerce in India is small but is growing rapidly, Kumar added.

Delsey operates 45 exclusive stores in India and plans to expand this across urban markets.

On the emergence of boutique D2C Indian brands in the luggage space, the executives noted that these brands get their growth by depending heavily on discounting and large marketing spends, which may not be sustainable in the long run.

“They invest big time to capture the imagination and sensitivity of the people and they have been fairly successful in that. But in the long-term the luggage industry is not very easy to survive,” he said.

Published on June 18, 2026