Béis founder and chief creative officer, Shay Mitchell. Photo: Courtesy of Béis Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story It’s two weeks post-acquisition when I speak to Shay Mitchell over Zoom. Samsonite acquired an 85% stake in her travel and luggage brand Béis for $178.5 million on October 1, valuing the company at approximately $210 million. It’s the first time the actor — who first made her name on Pretty Little Liars — has spoken about the deal, and she and Béis CEO Adeela Hussain Johnson are both visibly excited about the milestone, eight years since Mitchell launched the brand with a suite of duffel and weekender travel bags.
“I’ve had Samsonite on my vision board and my lock screen, for a while,” Mitchell tells me. “It’s very surreal. We’ve done a lot the past eight years, but there is so much more that we have planned now that we know we can do.”
Mitchell launched Béis after identifying a white space for aesthetically pleasing lifestyle bags and luggage designed for busy women. Like any celebrity founder, she used her platform to boost the label in its early days, posting product on her social channels. “Getting the word out there at the beginning was super important. I brought in cast members from the show [ Pretty Little Liars ] to be like, ‘Hey, come in here, help me do this,’ she says. “I truly have believed in this from the beginning. I would have screamed from any mountain.”
While we’ve certainly hit celeb brand saturation today, it’s rare that a celebrity label reaches acquisition. “Maybe you buy a Béis one time because you like the show that I’ve been on, but the repeat purchases aren’t because of that,” Mitchell says. “It’s because you’re genuinely finding the bag to make your life easier. And I always say, if I were to step down or walk away, this brand could stand on its own.”
Béis bags and suitcases are priced from $108 for the Weekender bag to $394 for its largest check-in roller, appealing to the aspirational shopper. Mitchell is chief creative officer of the brand and heavily involved in design, aiming to solve pain points her and her community face when it comes to travel. These include cushioned handles (for wheeling too-heavy cases), an in-built weighing system that identifies if your luggage is over 50lb, sections for wet clothes and laundry, and a built-in cord to attach your keys and help you find them after a trip.
The brand has also leant into high-profile or zeitgeist-y collaborations to help it along, from Rare Beauty, Gap and KidSuper, to Barbie and Wicked . Plus, Mitchell still stars in many of Béis’s campaigns and social media videos, including those for the Rare Beauty collab, where she and Selena Gomez posed to promote lip shades and Béis luggage in the same shade of pink. Though her favorite content to make is “walkthroughs”, where she or other members of the team talk consumers through the features of Béis products on YouTube or TikTok.
Previously, LA-based brand incubator Beach House Group owned 70% of the Béis business. Mitchell — who owned the rest — sold half of her 30% stake in the Samsonite deal, but retains her role as founder and creative director. Johnson, who was appointed in 2024, also remains in post. In the run-up to the acquisition, it generated approximately $210 million in net sales in 2025, largely from its US direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel.
“We’re at a team offsite right now. It’s been two weeks now [since the acquisition]. And I said to the team, ‘Raise yo…