The luxury that gains value the more it's dented and scratched

In 1898, Paul Morszeck of Cologne, Germany, opened a workshop making travel cases from leather and wood. In the 1930s, the workshop caught fire. The leather and wood burned, and only the aluminum remained. His son Richard Morszeck made cases again from the aluminum that survived. In 1937 came the world's first aluminum suitcase. He renamed the company after himself, too: RIchard MOrszeck WArenzeichen, meaning Richard Morszeck's trademark. RIMOWA.

Aluminum was light and strong. In 1950, grooves resembling the ridges of an aircraft fuselage were cut into the surface, and those grooves became RIMOWA's face. But there was one thing: it dented easily. After a few trips through airports, it was scratched, dinged and marked with sticker residue. The logic of this market is that luxury goods should look new. Scratches were a flaw to hide.

RIMOWA did not hide the scratches. It put dented suitcases plastered with stickers straight into its ads. The longer someone has traveled, the more dented their suitcase. Scratches became a record of the roads the case had traveled. People started putting stickers on their own suitcases.

In 2016, LVMH acquired the company. In 2022, the five-year warranty was extended to a lifetime. Wheels, handles and locks, the parts that roll, open and close, are repaired for life. Dents are not repaired. They are not damage; they are the roads the case has traveled. The company does not tell you to buy a new one.

In 2023, it launched RE-CRAFTED, which restores old suitcases returned by customers and sells them again. It was the first among LVMH brands. It means the marks of a previous owner do not lower the price.

Worth adding: since 2000, RIMOWA has also sold polycarbonate suitcases, lighter than aluminum and less prone to denting. Still, what appears in the ads is dented aluminum.
RIMOWA called the flaw of denting easily a travel history.
Some things lose value with scratches, others gain it. Where does that difference come from?