Louis Vuitton enters rugby field via branded trophy case

French leather goods brand Louis Vuitton is aligning its wares with the sport of rugby through a first time collaboration.

Together with World Rugby, Louis Vuitton has created a special project for Rugby World Cup 2015, the highest level in the sport. Louis Vuitton’s involvement will place the luxury brand into the conversation surrounding the record-breaking global celebration of rugby and the sport’s values.

The greatest prize
Louis Vuitton has been commissioned to design the leather carrying case for the Rugby World Cup’s trophy, the Webb Ellis Cup. The case, holding rugby’s greatest prize, will be presented to the winning team at the final match at Twickenham, outside London, on Oct. 31.

The leather case was handmade in Louis Vuitton’s Asnières workshop near Paris and will hold the sterling silver and gold plate trophy. The outside of the case is covered with Louis Vuitton monogram and is fitted with the brand’s signature brass lock and corners evoking its heritage of creating travel cases.

Webb Ellis Cup case created by Louis Vuitton

According to Women's Wear Daily, the 13 match venues, hosting 48 games, will have more than 2 million spectators and 400,000 international fans traveling to Twickenham.

Over the course of its history, Louis Vuitton has become synonymous with elegant cases meant to transport precious belongings. For example, Louis Vuitton has designed foldout trunk-beds for African explorers and a secretary trunk for 1,000 cigars and a tea service traveling case. Louis Vuitton has also been responsible for the trophy trunk for the America’s Cup, dating back to 1851.

Although this is the first time Louis Vuitton has been associated with rugby, the leather goods maker has also crafted championship trophy cases for football’s World Cup.

Last summer, Louis Vuitton was commissioned by FIFA to create a leather case for the World Cup trophy that will be presented to the winners of the international football matches in Brazil.

To promote its involvement in the awarding of the FIFA World Cup trophy, Louis Vuitton shared an image of Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen on social media. In the image Ms. Bündchen sits next to the trophy and the Louis Vuitton leather case (see story).