"We only want one thing: to make our dreams come true," says Bernd Georgi in his Munich office, which resembles a huge playground for a big kid who has never grown up. There are stereo systems as well as pinball machines and mopeds. And lots of skateboards. Then the tall man, born in 65, with blond, shoulder-length hair stands up, walks across the room in his shorts and flip-flops and rolls an object across the floor that usually couldn't be more inconsequential and unemotional: a suitcase.

"I don't just want to sell this," he says with shining eyes. I also want to travel with it myself." Because this suitcase is unlike anything you've ever seen before. High-quality and durable - of course, that goes without saying. But this coolness and lightness, this unusual design with bright colors in the 70s style - that embodies exactly the lifestyle that Bernd's office also exudes. And the fact that the suitcase glides along as silently and elegantly as a skateboard is a source of pride for Bernd Georgi and his partner Horst Kern, who made a splash in 2019 with the founding of the Floyd brand.

An unusual business idea gets rolling

The story of Floyd actually began almost 50 years ago in the deep provinces around Fürstenfeldbruck, when Bernd and Horst became friends in the small village of Landsberied with its 700 inhabitants because they were the only teenagers there who spent their free time on skateboards. Using a fretsaw, they shaped boards onto which they mounted old and deafeningly rattling roller skate wheels. But one day, the boy next door, whose father had just returned from a trip to America, dropped by with a "real skateboard", as Bernd calls it: "It had these new wheels, and they were quieter, rolled much better, had grip and also looked much cooler."

These polyurethane wheels revolutionized the skateboard scene back then. And Bernd Georgi says today: "There are simply things that trigger something." Over the years, this rolling feeling has become so ingrained in him and Horst that they simply packed a suitcase in the office and put it on a skateboard. And realized how phenomenal it felt. The idea for Floyd suitcases was born. They had to be as cool and roll like skateboards.

Logo made from Finochrom underlines the classy look

What helped Bernd Georgi and Horst Kern was that they had built up many important contacts with manufacturers over the years and had acquired a wealth of knowledge. Their friendship had long since developed into a business partnership. They founded the company Star Tags and produced baseball caps as well as bags and suitcases on behalf of well-known brands. "The question of how and where to attach a logo has always occupied us in our business," says Bernd Georgi - one reason why the two entrepreneurs have long maintained a close relationship with RATHGEBER. With caps, they say, this question is always very easy to answer because logos are usually embroidered on them. A suitcase, however, has to endure and take a lot over the course of its life.

On the ones they produced on commission, the logos were partly screwed on and partly attached in recesses. For their own Floyd models, however, Bernd Georgi and Horst Kern were looking for a logo that would emphasize the style of the brand and opted for Finochrom - made of real metal with a shiny finish, perfectly matching the surfaces of the cases. "We really wanted a classy look," says Bernd about the reasons for sticking the Floyd logos on the case shells: "They are easy to apply, extremely durable and also have a tactile effect - just three-dimensional enough to be felt, but flat enough not to get stuck anywhere."

How this suitcase became a lifestyle statement

While Bernd Georgi talks about his suitcases, he keeps looking at his smartphone with enthusiasm. "I was never really into Instagram," he says. But suddenly, strangers keep sending him videos of them racing at the airport while sitting on their suitcases. People who travel with Floyd like to show themselves on the internet. The brand has become a statement. "Complete strangers greet each other like Vespa riders," says Bernd Georgi, describing behavioral patterns from an ever-growing Floyd community.

For Bernd and Horst, there is a simple reason why the number of Floyd fans is increasing day by day: "Everyone who sees our suitcases immediately likes them," they say. Editorial presence in fashion and lifestyle magazines helped them to gain momentum, as did good contacts with major national and international department stores. This quickly led to significant sales and also to presentation opportunities in prime locations. For the Floyd founders, this was "paid advertising" and a huge help in learning to fly as quickly as possible.

If "Learning to fly" were playing from the speakers of Bernd's stereo system at this moment, the scene would probably be almost too good to be true. "The music of Pink Floyd," he says, "has always accompanied us and also contributed a little to the name." Bernd Georgi and Horst Kern tell us with beaming faces that Holly Mason, the daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, has long sworn by traveling with the colourful suitcases on skateboard wheels. Remi Kabaka Jr, the drummer of the band Gorillaz, recently wrote: "Honestly, best suitcase I've owned"

and promptly invited them to a Gorillaz concert in the Verona Arena

"With Floyd, we want to build a brand the way we envision it", Bernd Georgi & Horst Kern.

However, such exciting moments do not really upset the founders of Floyd. "With Floyd, we want to build a brand the way we envision it," they say. They want to live and cultivate their lifestyle. And, of course, earn the necessary money to do so. And, like children who have never grown up, they want to keep on living their dreams. Even of a life by the sea. Of freedom. And of lots of fun. There is a very pragmatic reason why they work in Munich instead of L.A. "For most beautiful places in this world, you have to bring money with you. But we still have to earn some - and that's easier to do from here," they say. After all, their suitcases are currently carrying their dreams out into the wide world every day. With a lot of emotion. But also with a lot of attention to detail. One of these is the Finochrom logo on the polycarbonate shells. "We haven't had a single complaint about this," says Bernd Georgi with satisfaction. And he seems to know that big dreams can only be realized if you always keep an eye on the little things.