How Louis Vuitton trophy trunks became a symbol of F1 And of many other sports

In 1859, five years after opening its first store in Paris, Louis Vuitton made a strategic move: acquiring a site that was well connected to the capital thanks to the newly established railway line, while also being close enough to the Seine to facilitate the transportation of the wood needed to produce its trunks. The destination was Asnières-sur-Seine, which would become home to the Vuitton workshop and, more importantly, a creative cornerstone in the company’s growth from one generation to the next. Fast forward more than a century and a half, and a Louis Vuitton trunk was used to unveil the World Cup trophy during the 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, in front of nearly 81,000 spectators and a global audience of several million. So, how did we get there?

The First Louis Vuitton Cup

Over the years, Louis Vuitton has expanded far beyond its origins, broadening its expertise to establish itself as a leading luxury maison and a global point of reference. Alongside a long history of pioneering innovations came a series of strategic partnerships designed to increase the brand’s visibility and expand the reach of its products, eventually extending into the world of sport. As with everything Louis Vuitton does, this was anything but accidental. What competition could be a more natural fit for a company born from the innovation of travel trunks than one that takes place on the water? In 1983, the first collaboration between the America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton was born, marking the maison’s first-ever partnership with a sporting event.

The sponsorship gave rise to the first historic Louis Vuitton Cup in Newport, following an agreement between the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Paul Madden, one of the members of the New York Yacht Club, who reached out to the French maison. The sailing competition, which still exists today, serves to determine the challenger who will go on to race against the defending America’s Cup champion. In addition to acting as sponsor, Louis Vuitton created a trophy for the winners, establishing a tradition that would continue over the years, albeit with several interruptions.

After returning for the 37th edition in Barcelona in 2024 as Title Partner of the oldest trophy in international sport, the Louis Vuitton Cup will also be held in Naples in 2027, as part of the first-ever edition of the America’s Cup to take place in Italy. The winner will become the challenger to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the reigning champions.

Louis Vuitton’s Roots in Formula 1

Victory travels in Louis Vuitton, just as it did in sailing, is a tagline built around movement: the journey, the transition from a starting point to a destination. That is precisely why the relationship with Formula 1 feels like such a natural fit, following the same concept first developed for sailing. In 2025, the Parisian maison signed a ten-year agreement to become the Title Partner of the world’s leading motorsport championship, turning what had until then been an occasional collaboration into a long-term partnership.

The first trunk created for a Grand Prix dates back to 2021, in Monaco, featuring an eye-catching design covered in reddish Monogram and finished with a two-tone V inspired by the flag of the Principality of Monaco. After establishing this tradition and following the partnership’s official launch in Australia last season, the approach from the current season onwards has been to create a different Trophy Trunk for every Grand Prix, each finished with a plaque bearing the winner’s initials.

Australian Open, Roland Garros and the Davis Cup

Carlos Alcaraz was already well acquainted with the trunks coming out of the Asnières workshop, not only because he is a Brand Ambassador for the Parisian maison, but also because he had opened one just last February after defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open. Louis Vuitton has been the tournament’s Trophy Trunk provider since 2023 and, for three consecutive editions, has created both the case for the men’s trophy and its women’s counterpart. The bespoke pieces produced for the tournament feature one of the maison’s most distinctive designs, from the entirely white V-shaped stripes echoing the court markings to the all-blue microfiber lining, another nod to the tournament and its colours, with the AO logo standing out on the inside of the lid.

Tennis, perhaps more than any other sport, lends itself naturally to the craftsmanship and elegance of Louis Vuitton’s trunks. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, the maison has not established a long-term partnership with Roland Garros, instead opting for occasional collaborations. The workshop produced the Trophy Trunks for the 2017 and 2018 editions, following the same concept as the Australian Open but swapping the blue lining for the terracotta shade synonymous with the Paris tournament’s clay courts. In this case, the logo was deliberately kept out of sight.

The logo, however, took centre stage on the lid of the first travel case created to house the Davis Cup in 2019, when a four-year partnership was announced and subsequently extended without interruption to the present day. Louis Vuitton’s work quickly became an instant classic: the trunk was designed in a circular shape, allowing it to become the final link in the enormous concentric-circle base on which the trophy itself rests.

The Webb Ellis Cup Trophy Case

While tennis and Formula 1 are already closely associated with luxury and high fashion, rugby is often perceived as a sport much closer to the masses, partly because of its raw and physical nature. In reality, its origins are far less popular than one might imagine, rooted in the wealthy British school and university circles of the late 19th century. It was therefore no coincidence that Louis Vuitton created an elegant trophy case for the Webb Ellis Cup for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, giving the piece a distinctly vertical design.

And it was far from an isolated case. For the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, Louis Vuitton returned to the rugby field with yet another one-of-a-kind piece, once again built vertically but featuring an increasingly intricate level of detail. Much like the cases created for the Australian Open, the blue lining — one of the tournament’s colours — made a return, complete with the logo placed on the lid. For the first time, however, one of the diagonal V stripes across the panels echoed the exact colour of the trunk’s interior, contrasting with the other half in red, with both sections framed in white. Finally, the number fifteen was engraved in Roman numerals on the exterior, representing the fifteen players on each team taking the field during the competition.

Modern Collaborations with the NBA and League of Legends

Victor Wembanyama, who came within reach of his first NBA title last season, became a Louis Vuitton brand ambassador in 2024. The French maison, however, had already crossed paths with the American basketball league between 2020 and 2023 under the direction of Virgil Abloh, releasing two capsule collections and a third special drop to mark the NBA’s 75th anniversary. Among the earliest pieces created by LVMH was the travel case for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, defined by painstaking hand-crafted details in the coloured side stripes, where a dominant white is framed by red and blue — also echoed in the lining — drawing from the NBA logo’s palette. The 75th-anniversary version of the logo also appears on the lid, while one of the front panels features a basketball containing the LV initials.

If the NBA represents the most recent partnership with a global sporting giant, the most futuristic is undoubtedly the collaboration with League of Legends for the video game’s 2019 World Championship, held in Paris. On this occasion, the Asnières workshop pushed the concept even further, not so much through a more cartoonish and contemporary interpretation of the logo in line with the multiplayer game’s graphics, but through the use of LED elements — a first for the maison. At the reveal, five illuminated panels automatically opened, lifting the trophy into view in a striking interplay between darkness and light.

The Uniqueness of Paris 2024

At the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, LVMH stepped in as a Premium Partner, creating one of its most distinctive works for a sporting event. Drawing on a long tradition that has seen the maison’s trunks transformed into bespoke wardrobes for transporting shoes, cigars and grooming essentials, Louis Vuitton created a trunk specifically for the medals, featuring dozens of drawers arranged across four columns. The French maison was also commissioned to create the cases for the Olympic and Paralympic torches, distinguished by their unique aesthetic treatment: the traditional Damier grid pattern replaced the Monogram.

With FIFA and Formula 1 representing Louis Vuitton’s ongoing partnerships, this is, chronologically, the maison’s latest collaboration with a sporting organisation. A tradition that has grown so extensive that it has even inspired a book featuring more than 125 illustrations dedicated to Louis Vuitton’s Trophy Trunks, curated by French writer and journalist Olivier Margot.