Porter: The Pinnacle of Japanese Craftsmanship
Steeped in decades of celebrated craftsmanship, design, and storytelling, Porter is a name with incredible cultural cachet the world over. But before we can even touch on the legendary Porter name, we need to go back to 1918, when a young Kichizo Yoshida, would leave his hometown and travel to Tokyo to train as a bag craftsman. Honing his craft for nearly two decades, Kichizo Yoshida established his first bag-making atelier, Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo, in 1935, just a few years before the breakout of World War Two. After being almost wiped out in the face of the war, Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo was renamed and reformed into Yoshida & Co., Ltd in 1951, a transformation that would mark the beginning of their rise to global fame.
Now back to Porter.
Founded in 1962 as the first sub-label of Yoshida & Co., Porter would enjoy immense success in the coming decades and to this day remains the main brand under the Yoshida & Co. umbrella despite the successful launches of other sub-labels such as Porter Girl and Luggage Label. A major turning point for the brand came in the 80s when Porter began to experiment with novel materials, in an attempt to break ranks with the mainstream demand for leather bags.
It wasn’t long before they became fascinated with the three-layer fabric used in MA-1 flight jackets, a piece of apparel abundant since the end of the war. Incredibly light and durable, the nylon fabric became an intrinsic design element of their celebrated Tanker model, which would debut in 1983. This mastery of materials borrowed from the militaristic MA-1 jacket still shines through today as the fabric of choice throughout the Porter line-up with most of their bags recognizable thanks to their nylon shell and neon orange interior.
Despite their global success, Porter has never shown an interest in expanding beyond crafting bags, which demonstrates a foundational ethos that can be tied back to one Japanese proverb. “Mochi wa mochiya”, which roughly translates as ‘if you want mochi, go to a mochi maker’, represents Porter’s drive to offer a mastery of the products they create, a principle that sees that all Porter products are still exclusively made in Japan to this day.
We are incredibly excited to be stocking Porter at NAKED Copenhagen, and for you to experience the incredible craftsmanship that goes into each stitch. Explore our first delivery online or in-store now.
