RIMOWA Original Vs. RIMOWA Essential: Which Is Right For You?

RIMOWA Original Vs. RIMOWA Essential: Which Is Right For You?

If you travel even a little, you’ve probably noticed it: RIMOWA suitcases are everywhere. Airports, train stations, hotel lobbies… their ribbed aluminum shell can be spotted effortlessly. It’s basically become a travel status symbol.

Maybe you swore you didn’t need one… until you kept seeing them roll by and started thinking, “Okay but why does everyone have this exact suitcase? What am I missing out on?”

Once you get past the sticker shock and decide you’re finally going to buy one for yourself, the real question kicks in: which RIMOWA do you actually get? Because this isn’t a one-and-done purchase — it’s a suitcase you’re probably planning to use for years.

Two of the most popular options are the RIMOWA Original and the RIMOWA Essential, and while they look similar enough at first glance, they’re built very differently.

The Original is made from aluminum (yes, the iconic one), while the Essential uses lightweight polycarbonate and comes in way more colors.

This post breaks down the real differences between the two — not just specs, but what they’re actually like to travel with — so you can figure out which line makes sense for how you travel, not just which one looks cool rolling through the airport.

Original

Essential

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RIMOWA: About The Brand

Founded in Cologne in 1898, RIMOWA has risen to become one of the quintessential brands for prestigious luggage, renowned for its iconic design easily recognizable by travelers worldwide.

The RIMOWA brand started as a manufacturer of hard-shell suitcases made from hard-wearing wood, and the company has had an enormous impact on the luggage industry ever since. Through the years, the brand changed and developed its look, adopting a groove design inspired by an aircraft.

Though RIMOWA is likely most well-known for its aluminum luggage designs, it also adopted polycarbonate styles over the years too.

Though the company started as a luggage manufacturer, it has since expanded into some of the following:

Multiple luggage collections with distinct characteristics

Multiple bag collections that include sling bags, tote bags, weekenders, backpacks, briefcases, and more

Accessories such as packing cubes and luggage tags

Stickers and iPhone accessories, such as phone covers

Specialty cases like wine cases, watch cases, poker attachés, etc.

You can expect to find most of these products with their signature aesthetic — the horizontal groove pattern, serving to pay homage to the world’s first all-metal aircraft.

The company’s focus on quality and old-school craftsmanship has made it a favorite among upscale travelers, and its unique design (and symbolism!) has helped it stand out from other luggage brands.

RIMOWA’s design philosophy leans towards minimalism, with clean lines and a focus on functionality. The brand often opts for simple, monochromatic color palettes, making its products look timeless and sophisticated!

Fun Fact: The very first aluminum trunk was created by the founder’s son, Richard Morszeck. Abbreviating his name gave them their enduring name of ‘RIMOWA’.

RIMOWA Classic

RIMOWA’s Luggage Collections

Because it can get kinda confusing, we’ll start by quickly breaking down RIMOWA’s different luggage collections.

There are a total of six different collections and within each collection, there are different luggage sizes, including cabin (or carry-on) and checked luggage (ranging from medium, large, and even trunk sizes).

Original Collection: This is the iconic collection for which RIMOWA is known. It features the brand’s signature grooved aluminum suitcase. The Original collection is available in carry-on and check-in sizes, and comes in a few classic metal colors.

Classic Collection: This collection is a timeless, heritage-inspired take on the Original collection and features a high-end anodized aluminum alloy, riveted high-gloss aluminum corners, and hand-made leather handles.

Hybrid Collection: This collection combines the durability of aluminum with the lightweight properties of polycarbonate. The Hybrid collection features a hybrid shell made from both materials, so you get the best of both worlds.

Essential Collection: A more affordable option from RIMOWA, made from polycarbonate. You’ll get the most color options in this line.

Essential Lite Collection: An even more lightweight and portable option, made from polycarbonate. Weighing 30% less than the RIMOWA Essential, these cases are designed for easy mobility.

Essential Sleeve Collection: Another lightweight and minimalistic option from RIMOWA, with the only difference being that there is an exterior sleeve that can hold your laptop/tablets. Great for business travelers!

Distinct Collection: The newest/bougiest of the line. The suitcases of this collection are made with leather and aluminum.

RIMOWA Original vs. Essential: Design

Although the RIMOWA Original and RIMOWA Essential lines are manufactured and designed by the same company, they look and feel totally different. Let’s take a look at the differences between the two lines in detail.

RIMOWA Original Line

The RIMOWA Original line is the line of luggage that the brand first became known for and now features three main colors — silver, titanium, and black.

From time to time though, limited edition colors do go on sale, such as quartz (rose gold) or artic blue. There are also some other color options in the form of the Original Twist line, which offers color combinations by adding color to the handles and some of the case’s trim.

Staying true to the company’s origins, as the name of the line suggests, these cases feature the signature RIMOWA groove design. The Original suitcase line features a sleek, timeless, and modern aesthetic while staying true to the roots of aluminum design.

RIMOWA Essential Line

In contrast to the Original line, though maintaining the signature groove design, RIMOWA’s Essential line features hard-shell cases made from polycarbonate and many more colors.

The suitcases’ design remains sleek, but the wider color range gives you a few more aesthetic options.

With polycarbonate cases, you have color options ranging from three to fifteen (the Cabin carry-on size offers the most), and most suitcases offer a choice between gloss and matte finishes to suit your personal style.

RIMOWA Original vs. Essential: Quality

Let’s review the key differences in how these suitcases are made.

Manufacturing Materials

Original Line – The Original luggage line by RIMOWA uses aluminum for the case’s exterior and polyester for the bag’s dividers and internal components. RIMOWA also uses hard wearing plastic for the handles and wheels.

Essential Line – As noted before, the Essential luggage line uses polycarbonate to make the hard-shell exterior of their suitcases. It uses polyester for the internal components and hard wearing plastic for the wheels and handle.

Construction And Design

The Original and Essential luggage lines from RIMOWA both have a hard exterior shell to protect your belongings, making them last longer than most other-material suitcases.

A hardshell case lets you wipe it down when it gets dirty, which is much better than softshell cases made of fabric that can get very dirty and smelly.

In addition, both feature rounded corners with corner caps for extra protection, a multi-wheel system for optimal rolling, and height-adjustable flex dividers inside to keep your belongings in place (and even compressed) as you pack them.

One benefit of the Original cases’ design is that they do not use a zip that can get stuck or broken over time. Instead, they use the signature RIMOWA lock system to keep your case closed.

Reviews And Previous Complaints

The RIMOWA Original luggage sets are crafted from high-quality, durable materials that you can see, feel, and appreciate over many years of use. However, like other hard cases, they can scratch if not protected with a suitcase cover or sleeve when checked in.

However, as with other hard cases, it can scratch if it isn’t protected in a suitcase cover or sleeve when checked in.

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The Essential luggage line, though not made from metal, is also very durable even after many uses. However, you may encounter the same issue with scratches.

Matte colors tend to show scratches more than glossy options.

RIMOWA Original vs. Essential: Suitcase Features

If you’re debating between two product lines, you’ll need to do an apples-to-apples comparison (compare check-in bags of the same size).

To compare them equally, you need to use the same suitcase model from both lines; this is what we’ll do below as an example.

Original Line

Some of the main features every RIMOWA Original suitcase has are:

TSA-approved locks

Height-adjustable flex dividers

Multi-directional wheels

Stage-free adjustment telescopic handles (stage-free means that you won’t be limited by the 3-4 default heights that other suitcases have)

Corner caps for extra protection

Zipperless closure

These features make the bag easy to move, secure with two compliant locks, and stable to stand. In addition, as you know by now, the aluminum material used for the Original line makes it even better for protection.

Another thing worth mentioning is the difference in size and storage capacity for the Original line. One example is the Original Cabin Suitcase (the carry-on size) which measures 21.7 x 15.8 x 9.1 inches and has a volume of 9.2 gallons.

Though other soft-shell suitcases may be able to “stretch” to carry a bit more, the fact that this suitcase is zipperless means you may struggle to fit anything extra.

Essential Line

The Essential line follows the same luxury standards and features; these bags have the same wheels, handles, and dividers and also have a lock.

However, since this line uses zips, there is only one lock. The Essential line also doesn’t have extra pieces of material that make up corner caps (instead, they’re built-in as part of the shell).

In contrast to the Cabin suitcase from the Original line, the Essential Cabin measures around 21.7 x 15.8 x 9.1 inches and has a volume of 9.8 gallons, which equates to 0.6 gallons more than the Original line equivalent.

The extra capacity may be due to a more bendable or flexible hard-shell material.

RIMOWA Original Vs. RIMOWA Essential: Weight And Size

RIMOWA Essential suitcases have two things going for it:

weigh less

has more luggage capacity/space than their Original line counterparts

Since the RIMOWA Original line offers many more suitcase sizes, we will focus on the cases offered by both lines to see the differences between them.

Before we do that, let’s discuss why there would be some of these differences in the first place.

Reasons for the difference in weight:

The material used – Naturally, polycarbonate is lighter than aluminum, making the RIMOWA Essential line lighter.

The internal sections – The internal pieces of the RIMOWA Essential line may also be lighter since they are made from Polyjacquard.

The external materials – the Original line also has more metal pieces used throughout the exterior of the suitcase

Reasons for the difference in capacity:

Because the hard shell of the RIMOWA Original line is made from aluminum, the Original line may have less space since the suitcase can’t “bend” much to accommodate more belongings.

Size and Weight Comparison:

OriginalEssentialCaseWeight (lbs)Size (in)Capacity (gallons)Weight (lbs)Size (in)Capacity (gallons)Cabin9.521.7 x 15.8 x 9.19.27.121.7 x 15.8 x 9.19.8Check-In M11.926.4 x 17.8 x 9.515.4926.4 x 17.8 x 9.515.4Check-In L13.731.2 x 20.1 x 10.721.710.630.6 x 20.5 x 11.123Trunk13.428.8 x 17 x 14.823.611.228.8 x 17 x 14.824.3Trunk Plus14.131.5 x 14.8 x 1726.511.931.5 x 14.6 x 16.126.7

RIMOWA Original vs. Essential: Which Is Right For You?

If you’re debating on whether to buy a suitcase or even a luggage set in the Original or Essential lines, the most significant differences you need to keep in mind are:

weight

price

personal aesthetic

… and materials used between the two luggage collections

Here are our takeaways about the two RIMOWA lines:

THE ORIGINALTHE ESSENTIALPricier ($$$$)Easier on the wallet (by $500-600)Aluminum shellPolycarbonate shellSlightly heavierLighter (easier overhead lifting)For the sophisticated / professionalComes in more colors, more youthful / trendyComes with lifetime warrantyComes with lifetime warranty

With that said, if you are looking to invest in a RIMOWA piece while spending the least amount of money possible and just want something adequate to keep your belongings safe while you travel, the suitcases from the RIMOWA Essential Line are more than enough.

BUT if you have breakables in your luggage or travel frequently with high-end equipment, you may want the Original Line’s added protection!

Either way, you’re getting a great piece with a lifetime warranty. Either choice is a great one.

EXPLORE THE RIMOWA ESSENTIAL LINE

EXPLORE THE RIMOWA ORIGINAL LINE

Looking for more travel gear / travel tips? You may also like:

RIMOWA Essential Cabin Review: Is It Worth The Money?

LEVEL8 Gibraltar Aluminum Carry-On Review: Is This A Good RIMOWA Dupe?

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