Louis Vuitton began as a luggage manufacturer

One of the most interesting facts about Louis Vuitton is that Louis Vuitton began as a luggage manufacturer. Vuitton was born into a family of carpenters, artisans, and farmers. His mother, a hatmaker, died when he was 10 years old, and his father died not long after. Vuitton left his home in Anchay, Franche-Comté, in the spring of 1835, at the age of 13, due to a bad relationship with his adoptive stepmother. Vuitton walked approximately 292 miles (470 km) to Paris, taking odd jobs along the way. In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, he arrived in 1837 and apprenticed under Monsieur Marechal, a successful trunk maker, and packer. Within a few years, Vuitton established a reputation as one of the city's foremost practitioners of the trade among the city's more fashionable classes.

Following the re-establishment of the French Empire under Napoleon III, Vuitton was hired as the Empress of France's personal trunk maker and packer. She charged him with "packing the most beautiful clothes in an exquisite way." This gave Vuitton access to more elite and royal clients, who hired him for the rest of his career.

Vuitton married 16-year-old Clemence-Emilie Parriaux in 1854 when he was 33 years old. He soon quit Marechal's shop and established his own trunk-making and packing workshop in Paris. A sign stood outside his shop that read: "Securely packs the most fragile objects. Specializing in packing fashions."