3 Questions :: J. Panther Luggage Co.

For our 3 Questions today, as usual, we kept it short and sweet. We tracked down Johnny Diamandis, founder of  J. Panther Luggage Co., and quizzed him about his brand, his customers and what he simply won’t do when it comes to the Panther. 

1. What is the essence of your brand?

Innovation, with no expense spared on materials: basically I try to balance materials, function and overall aesthetic design so that we are the best in our field. We are expensive in some eyes, but I am competing against the very best luxury goods houses as our product is of that standard, if not better in many cases. Although, we are small enough that we can still pay attention to the smallest details. We pay particular attention to internals; look inside the Courier Ruc Case for example.

2. How do you connect with and understand your core customers?

I often get emails from my customers and I answer them personally. It’s especially flattering when I can see many customers that have purchased more than one item. What’s interesting is that many of them are perfectionists and pay huge attention to detail; this comes over in their correspondence. I respect my customers as they are making an investment in a brand relatively unknown compared to the big houses with over 100 years of history; they are prepared to take that step. I conceived the brand to have a wide appeal, but I don’t mean that in a “please everybody” way. What I mean is that it’s always been my dream to design a product that becomes a “classic”, let’s say; classics outlast trends, transcend niches and can appeal to young, old, city or rural customers. Our bags go all over the planet; the last one shipped went to Italy, which was a surprise!

3. What things won’t you do with your brand?

I’m not very good at doing things with the bag that save me money while compromising the product. I will try to save money occasionally by getting a good price on a component that’s standard, but not if it compromises the product. Sometimes I overdo this frankly, as my goal at the moment is to just make the very best product I can, not to sell thousands of bags. I think we will have time to do that (sell loads) in the future, but for now I just want to create wonderful product and enjoy both the process and the end result.