What was Louis Vuitton's occupation before becoming a businessman?

Before becoming a businessman, Louis Vuitton worked as a trunk maker. More precisely, he trained as a trunk maker and packer, learning to build, fit, and protect luggage for wealthy travelers.

Vuitton left his home in the Jura region and reached Paris as a teenager in 1837. He became an apprentice to Romain Maréchal, a successful box-maker and packer who served the Parisian elite. Vuitton spent roughly seventeen years developing the practical skills and craftsmanship that later shaped his company.

In 1854, he opened his own workshop and began producing travel trunks under his name. His flat-topped trunks were easier to stack than traditional rounded-top luggage, an important advantage as railways and steamships made long-distance travel more common. He later moved production to Asnières-sur-Seine, where the company’s historic workshop remains associated with special-order trunkmaking.

The answer is not tailor, shoemaker, or watchmaker: his early trade directly involved trunks, cases, packing, and travel goods.