HRX by Hrithik Roshan Luggage Review: Style vs Substance

HRX built its name on gym vests and running shoes, not suitcases. Started in 2013 by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment as an athleisure label, the brand only entered luggage in the last few years, licensing its name onto a full trolley bag range sold through the D2C retailer Escape Plan, and stocked on Flipkart and Amazon. The pitch is straightforward: a recognisable, aspirational name on a hard-shell suitcase, at a price close to what Safari or Aristocrat already charge.

The question this review answers is the one the branding doesn't: does the bag underneath the celebrity name actually hold up, or are you paying for the logo? This uses CarryScore's standard evaluation approach — the range, the materials, and what actual buyers report after the bag has been through a few trips.

The short version: HRX luggage is a real, reasonably wide range — eight series across polycarbonate and polypropylene shells, a 5-year warranty, and pricing that undercuts most celebrity-branded categories. But it is a licensed lifestyle-brand extension, not a luggage engineering effort, and it shows in exactly the places you'd expect: handles and locking mechanisms draw the most complaints, even as the shells themselves hold up reasonably well. Style is genuinely there. Substance is inconsistent.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• HRX is an athleisure brand founded in 2013 by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment; Myntra acquired a majority stake in 2019, and the brand has since expanded from apparel into footwear, eyewear, and luggage.
• HRX luggage is sold exclusively through Escape Plan (myescplan.com) as well as Flipkart and Amazon, spanning eight named series: Brute, Grit, Force, and Glide in polycarbonate; Kyoto, Helium, Zanzibar, and Madrid in polypropylene.
• Every HRX trolley carries a 5-year warranty and a 14-day try-and-buy window — competitive with Safari's 5-year terms, though short of VIP's 7-year select lines or Rare Rabbit's 10-year top tier.
• Marketplace ratings sit around 4.4/5, but a recurring complaint across reviews is the telescopic handle and locking mechanism, which several buyers report loosening or failing within weeks.
• The catch: HRX competes on the same shells (PC/PP) and the same manufacturing tier as Safari, Aristocrat, and Snitch — the Hrithik Roshan name adds shelf appeal, not a materials or engineering advantage.

1. From Gym Vests to Suitcases: How HRX Got Into Luggage

HRX started in November 2013 as an athleisure menswear line, launched exclusively on Myntra by Hrithik Roshan alongside Exceed Entertainment and co-founders Afsar Zaidi, Kamal Punwani, and Sid Shah. The brand's early years were built entirely around fitness — gym wear, running shoes, and a partnership with Cult.fit that put Roshan's name on workout content across the country. In 2019, Myntra acquired a majority stake in HRX, folding it fully into Flipkart's private-brand portfolio and giving it access to Myntra's manufacturing and distribution network.

That backing is what let HRX extend well beyond apparel. The brand now covers footwear, eyewear, fitness equipment, and accessories — and, more recently, luggage. Unlike Safari or VIP, HRX did not build or acquire a luggage manufacturing operation. The trolley bag range is a licensed category extension, sold exclusively through Escape Plan, a D2C luggage retailer that also carries the youth-fashion brand Snitch and the premium label Rare Rabbit under the same storefront.

This matters for how you should read the rest of this review. HRX's core competency is brand marketing and retail distribution, proven at scale in apparel. Luggage is a newer, smaller bet riding on the same playbook: recognisable name, competitive pricing, heavy reliance on online retail and try-and-buy windows to convert browsers into buyers.

FUN FACT: HRX's name has a double meaning — ‘HR’ for Hrithik Roshan's initials, and ‘X’ for ‘extreme’, a naming logic Roshan has explained directly in interviews. The luggage range keeps the same X-suffixed naming convention seen across HRX's fitness gear, even though suitcases have nothing to do with extreme sport.

2. HRX's Luggage Range: What You're Actually Choosing Between

The HRX trolley bag range is organised into eight series split across two shell materials — wider than Safari's lineup, though every series maps to a familiar cabin/medium/large check-in structure.

Prices listed are indicative and were accurate at the time of research. Luggage and bag prices fluctuate frequently due to sales, festive discounts, and MRP-vs-street-price gaps, so actual prices at the time of your purchase may differ from what's listed here. Always verify current pricing on the retailer's website before buying.

The polycarbonate series (Brute, Grit, Force, Glide) sit at HRX's premium end and are pitched as the more durable, scratch-resistant option. The polypropylene series (Kyoto, Helium, Zanzibar, Madrid) undercut them on price with a more flexible shell that absorbs impact rather than resisting it — the same material trade-off that applies across every budget Indian luggage brand, HRX included.

3. The Real Picture: Where HRX Pulls Ahead and Where It Doesn't

Where it earns its style reputation

• Genuine range breadth: eight named series across two shell materials is more variety than most single-brand competitors offer at this price point.

• 5-year warranty, no fine print gymnastics: matches Safari's standard term and is clearly stated at the point of sale, along with a 14-day try-and-buy window that's unusual in this category.

• Design language: HRX's colourways and textured finishes read younger and more current than Safari's or Aristocrat's equivalent price tier — this is the one place where the brand's fashion pedigree genuinely shows up in the product.

• Marketplace rating: a 4.4/5 average across hundreds of ratings on Flipkart is respectable for a budget-to-mid trolley bag, and broadly in line with established players.

Where you should manage your expectations

• Handle and lock quality: the single most common complaint in verified buyer reviews is the telescopic handle loosening or shaking within weeks of purchase — a mechanical failure point, not a cosmetic one.

• No in-house manufacturing: unlike Safari (Halol, Gujarat) or VIP (Nashik, Nagpur), HRX doesn't manufacture its own shells. Quality control sits with Escape Plan's supply chain, not with a dedicated luggage company.

• Limited international-travel features: no series in the range is specifically marketed with a TSA-approved lock, unlike Safari's Thorium Royale — a gap for frequent international flyers.

• Retail exclusivity cuts both ways: buying primarily through Escape Plan means less of the pan-India physical service network that Safari and VIP have built over decades, so a broken wheel three days before a flight is harder to resolve in person.

THE REAL PICTURE: HRX's luggage line is a straightforward brand-licensing play, and it's reasonably honest about what it is: a wide, well-priced range wearing a recognisable name, backed by a warranty that matches the category standard. Where it struggles is exactly where you'd expect a fashion brand extending into a mechanical product to struggle — the moving parts. Telescopic handles and locks are the components that separate a good suitcase from an annoying one, and they're the ones buyers flag most often. If you're buying HRX for the design and the price, you're getting what's advertised. If you're buying it expecting Safari-level manufacturing discipline because of the price similarity, that expectation isn't well-founded — HRX hasn't invested in owning that part of the supply chain the way its older competitors have.

4. How HRX Compares: Quick Brand Benchmarks

Prices listed are indicative and were accurate at the time of research. Luggage and bag prices fluctuate frequently due to sales, festive discounts, and MRP-vs-street-price gaps, so actual prices at the time of your purchase may differ from what's listed here. Always verify current pricing on the retailer's website before buying.

5. Who Should Buy HRX

• Buy HRX if: you want a design-forward hard-shell trolley under ₹6,500, you're drawn to the brand name and don't mind buying primarily online, or you want a wider choice of colourways than Safari or Aristocrat offer.

• Buy something else if: you fly internationally and want a TSA-approved lock, you've been burned by handle or wheel failures before and want a brand with a longer manufacturing track record, or you want a physical service centre nearby.

• The sweet spot: the Grit or Brute at medium check-in size — polycarbonate, 8 spinner wheels, and HRX's most complete feature set for the price. Check the handle mechanism in person or via the try-and-buy window before committing.

6. Verdict

HRX's luggage line is what it looks like: a well-marketed, reasonably priced, style-forward range built on borrowed manufacturing rather than owned engineering. That's not a disqualifying flaw — plenty of good budget luggage is made this way — but it does mean the Hrithik Roshan name is doing more work on the shelf than it is inside the mechanism. The shells hold up about as well as any other brand in this price bracket. The handles and locks are the components to inspect closely before you buy, and the ones most likely to determine whether your experience matches the 4.4-star average or the handful of one-star complaints.

For a design-conscious buyer on a Safari-level budget, HRX is a legitimate option. For a buyer who cares more about long-term mechanical reliability and a pan-India service network than about colourway, Safari, VIP, or Rare Rabbit's longer warranty are the safer bets.