Luggage Report — Supplier Profile — Sample Pages: Sourcing Luggage from China

Supplier Profile: Carimax (Xiamen) Enterprises Ltd

Carimax (Xiamen) Enterprises Ltd is a large softside and hybrid luggage maker established in 2002 as a subsidiary of South Korea-based Carimax Corp. In the year covered it produced and exported 1.2 million pieces worth US$15 million, catering mainly to ODM and OEM buyers; patented luggage designs for Samsonite account for about 70 percent of export output. The company manufactures only midrange and high-end models. Its Xiamen factory covers 35,000 square metres, employs 1,000 people and runs at 100 percent of its 100,000-piece monthly capacity, with research and development spending of US$300,000 a year — 2 percent of sales.

Uprights run from 45 to 80 cm, with 55 and 65 cm models the bestsellers, and prices range from US$15 to US$30 depending on materials and components. Softside models are commonly made of EVA, 400D or 600D polyester, or 840D and 1682D nylon, with some versions in 200D or 1800D polyester; hybrid luggage combines ABS with nylon or polyester, and most fabric and synthetic materials are sourced from Taiwan. Carimax's ABS-and-fabric jointing technology has cut finished-product weight by 30 percent, and 360-degree rotating wheels make cases easy to pull and move. The research team develops countersamples within a week of receiving a buyer's designs. ABS-and-fabric combination and material development were still carried out at the mother factory in South Korea, with plans to install the same technology in Xiamen, where a special machine from Taiwan for attaching plastic to fabric was already in place and a QC team checks materials before they pass to computerised cutting.

What a Full Profile Adds

The sample shows the profile template at work: company background and markets first, then products with price ranges, then manufacturing and research capability, then outlook. Across all 66 profiles that single template is the point — every manufacturer is examined on the same points, so a buyer can line profiles up and compare export shares, OEM and ODM mix, design capacity, quality systems and price positioning without translating between formats. Details such as a production checklist — lines, research and quality control staff, machinery and processes — turn a profile from a description into an audit summary.

Profiles also connect back to the rest of the report. A supplier's prices can be checked against the product gallery's 116 models and the industry overview's price trends, and its outlook against the supplier survey. When the three agree, a buyer has a supplier worth sampling; when they disagree, the profile has done its other job — showing where to ask harder questions before an order is placed.