PORTER & YOSHIDA BAGS – FOR HHV

Words: Tommy Corlito

Touching base with a brand of which are already familiar, we’re about to take a look behind the scenes of all things luggage. Just how much do you really know about Porter-Yoshida may have adopted its branding and tag in 1962 as you know it today, however, Kichizo Yoshida’s first steps were actually taken in 1935 – nearly three decades beforehand. Upon the opening of his first bag manufacturing workshop, Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo was born.

That being said, Yoshida’s own story began in 1918 as the second of eight children, when he left his hometown Samukawa-cho behind to charter the heights of Tokyo aged just 12 years old. Here, he honed in on bag craftsmanship, survived 1923’s Kanto earthquake and primed Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo for launch.

However, Yoshida’s vision was very close to crashing just before take-off – life wasn’t always orange lining, subtle-branding and plain sailing for the brand. World War II meant Yoshida was called up for military service and subsequently halted all production. Fortunately for our protagonist, all of his precious sewing tools, delicate materials and vital machinery were placed into warehouse storage beneath a solid girder bridge by his wife, Chika. Upon his return, Yoshida picked up where he’d left off with fresh inspiration drawn from the hard-wearing military design language, his mind rife with unique perspectives and direction for an all new alias; Yoshida & Co. Ltd.. Kichizo had been hand-making bags in Tokyo for decades, only now had momentum turned in his favour.

The post-war ‘50s era seemed to welcome Yoshida & Co. with open arms, warming to the offer of practicality in day-to-day wear without dropping recognisable details that elevated Yoshida’s craftsmanship beyond anything readily available in Japan at the time. This approach to ‘the norm’ landed a certain Yoshida-designed bag on the set of national television by the side of Japanese Empress, Emiki Michiko, earning a living, breathing Royal seal of approval as a result. Kichizo’s product became a benchmark for refinement, putting quality and robust manufacturing on par with rugged wearability as a whole. At the same time, the ‘Elegant Bag’ was just taking flight.

Yoshida & Co.’s ‘Elegant Bag’ was a compact luggage option, sporting a zipper that did not contribute to closure as much as it altered fundamental sizing – unsurprisingly, popularity in Japan grew with Royal coining before taking to global markets respectfully.

For decades to follow, Yoshida & Co. became a staple across the board, engrained as commonplace within the Japanese workday bearing that widely recognisable Porter tag from 1962 onwards – coincidentally, the primary nylon bag capsule took inspiration from hotel porters as they carried the luggage of guests to their room. Even today, there are very few brands that manage to break bread across elemental services so easily – attributing supreme craftsmanship for a skillset that bounced between your child’s school sack, an office-dweller’s briefcase or travel-hardened storage bags. Porter, as it resides today, is considered the ‘main brand’ beneath that powerful Yoshida & Co. umbrella; a sub-brand produced to connect customers with the manufacturer through production transparency, castling a spotlight over materials used and design processes as areas overlooked by rival brands.

Ending on a collection that would stake its claim on becoming a Porter Yoshida & Co. mainstay, the MA-1 flight jacket inspired TANKER range. Remember how we mentioned the vibrant orange liner above? The ‘rescue orange’ toned hallmark was pulled directly from those sage green finished tri-layered nylon jackets of which Porter developed their own; whether you’re donning the larger luggage and pocket-bound wallets into over 60 unique iterations, an aesthetic influenced by military tenacity is borderline impossible to ignore. Visually, the TANKER’s introduction in 1983 pioneered an entirely fresh perspective on what a bag could be, playing a major part in the legacy left behind upon Kichizo Yoshida’s passing – leaving his two sons to continue such business from 1994 onwards.

In the modern day, Porter Yoshida & Co. continues to set standards with an HQ situated in Higashi-Kanda, Tokyo, pursuing the very same commitment to high-quality Japanese bag craftsmanship as Kichizo set in stone from day one, with each and every product continuing to be produced in Japan. Credibly, the brand has managed to side-step the temptation to move away from luggage and travel goods faced by other well-loved brands within high-end fashion circles.

Discover Porter-Yoshida & Co. at HHV.