EXCLUSIVE: Tumi Embarks on Multiyear Partnership With the PGA Tour and LPGA

Layla Ilchi
·3 min read
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Tumi is expanding its presence in the sports world with a new partnership.

The luxury travel company is embarking on a multiyear partnership with the PGA Tour and LPGA, signing on as both golf organizations’ official luggage partner. The partnership kicks off this week at the PGA Show in Orlando, Fla., where the brand will preview its new full-range golf collection.

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“There was this sort of natural, organic fit in terms of just the consumer behavior,” said Jill Krizelman, the senior vice president of global marketing and e-commerce at Tumi. “We know even from a data perspective our consumers, they love their golf — whether they’re playing or watching this sport. It really resonates with them. These two organizations, both men’s and women’s, also are global. As we look to different sports partnerships and how we approach different opportunities, we are a global brand, so showing up kind of on a world stage is something we also think about in a big way.”

Helmed by Tumi creative director Victor Sanz, the Tumi golf collection includes golf bags, duffel bags, ball pouches and other golf accessories in beige and black. The collection is said to leverage the brand’s high-performance materials and innovations.

Sanz highlighted the golf bag as a key item in the collection. The style is designed with soft-touch padding, a USB-C charging port and a cooler pocket. The bag can also be personalized with monogrammed patches. The collection ranges in price from $125 to $1,595 and will be available first on Tumi’s website, with plans for it to enter Tumi stores and retail partners this spring.

Pieces from Tumi's golf collection
Pieces from Tumi’s golf collection.

“I speak quite a bit about the customer being our muse at all points,” Sanz said. “Everything that we do — whether it’s a fragrance or it’s a travel collection — the more we understand them and understand what their passions are, that’s what really drives us to create the products that enhance those passions. Golf was one that was exceptionally seamless because we know that they are utilizing golf not only for business, but for pleasure, and they travel to experience golf.”

It was also important for Tumi to expand this partnership to the LPGA to serve its female customers and address a larger scope of athletes, Krizelman said.

“As we look at the future, sports and just the growing importance of women in sports, it’s super exciting for us,” she said. “We want to be really balanced in our approach for Tumi and make sure we’re showing up both for men’s and women’s.”

Tumi has several partnerships in the sports world, including with Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur and its player Son Heung-Min, Formula 1 team McLaren Racing and its driver Lando Norris, and the Professional Tennis Players Association.

“In the past, Tumi … was seen as a very big business and travel-oriented type brand,” Sanz said. “The reality was, it’s a brand that really caters to people that want the very best to help them perform. So, when we started talking to athletes, they’re like, ‘We travel with Tumi, that’s all we travel with all the time.’ It’s not just the typical athletes where it could be like football, soccer or baseball, but it was all these athletes kind of in between.”

Partnering with sports organizations is a core part of Tumi’s business, as the collaborations fit in with the brand’s on-the-go lifestyle branding. The executives explained the partnership with the golf organizations is the next step in the brand’s efforts of creating robust and comprehensive collaborations.

“The world of sport is one that we’ve been in for many years,” Sanz said. “But now we’re actually saying, as opposed to just creating one singular product to meet that need, let’s create collections that are really speaking and are really driving forward our commitment to those individuals that are pursuing those passions.”

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