Moynat is a French trunk maker and leather goods house founded in Paris in 1849, notable as one of the oldest French malletiers and historically distinctive for being founded around the vision of a woman, Pauline Moynat, a pioneering entrepreneur in travel goods. The house made its name in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with innovative lightweight and waterproof trunks, including curved-bottom automobile trunks designed to fit early motorcars.
After going dormant in the second half of the twentieth century, Moynat was revived in 2011 under Groupe Arnault, the family holding company of Bernard Arnault, with a flagship boutique on rue Saint-Honore in Paris. The relaunched house produces handbags, small leather goods, travel pieces, and trunks, with designs that reference its archives, including the Rejane bag, named after the Belle Epoque actress who was a devoted client, and the Gabrielle and Limousine lines.
Moynat leather goods are handcrafted in its own French ateliers using traditional trunk-making and saddle-stitching techniques, in deliberately limited volumes. The house continues to accept special orders and bespoke trunk commissions, including hand-painted personalization.
Moynat operates a small network of boutiques and counters in cities including Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong, and sells selected pieces through its website in some markets. Its low-volume, craftsmanship-first positioning places it among the most exclusive names in French leather goods.