User:Jobito2/Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

Yoshida & Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer that designs and produces bags and accessories branded as PORTER, LUGGAGE LABEL and PORTER GIRL. The company has twenty official shops named KURACHIKA YOSHIDA in Japan which only sells their own branded items.

The company became famous for wallets, bags and backpacks among young people in the 1980s. The brand, PORTER, collaborates with other fashion brands and consumer electronics companies and produce limited products. For example, cases and bags for PSP、PowerBook、iPod、VAIO.

History
Kichizo Yoshida, the founder of Yoshida & Co., Ltd., was born in 1906, in Samukawa-cho, Kanagawa. He started his training to become a bag craftsman at the age of 12.

At the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, when Kichizo was 17, he managed to rescue many household goods out of his house, by tying both ends of a cord to the goods and holding the cord on his shoulders. He learned from the experience that "a bag should first of all be a tool to carry goods". Even after he established Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo in Kandasuda-cho, Tokyo, he did not forget this philosophy and pursued the goal to create "a bag that fits to the owner as time passes and becomes a regular part of their lives". The former factory was in Kandasuda-cho, where they hid the tools for bag manufacturing during the war. Since the factory survived the air-raid attack, the craftsmen was able to go right back to their job after they finished their military service.

In 1953,Yoshida developed the Elegant Bag with an adjustable gusset width feature by fastening and unfastening of the zipper, which was a great success. At that time, reconstruction after the war was proceeding, with a number of apartments to increase. The functionality of the bag that can be compacted when not in use was quite innovative and highly acclaimed, since it matched the needs of the time. It was Kichizo who innovated this feature, which is commonly used in many bags today.

PORTER is Yoshida's first private brand that is launched in 1962. At that time people were not loyal to a specific brand, but instead, shopping at a department store was their status. But Kichizo was not satisfied with that, thinking "our customers have our products, but they do not know about the manufacturer, so our name won't be remembered". This is why Kichizo created a private brand as a breakthrough, which was quite unusual for a Japanese bag manufacturer at that time.

"TANKER" is one of the series of "PORTER" brand that was released in 1983. "TANKER" was a model inspired by the flight jacket MA-1 of the U.S. Air Force, made of an original material. Because its initial concept was "a travel series with military look", Yoshida & Co., Ltd. mainly offered duffle bags and shoulder bags, only in sage green color (the black color was added 6 months later). The military look fashion was unusual in the 80's, so this series didn't sell well at first. Despite the fact, "TANKER" has become a product that represents the PORTER brand today. Currently Yoshida & Co., Ltd. offers about 60 styles of regular items, more than 100 styles including collaboration models.

"LUGGAGE LABEL" was released in Autumn/Winter 1984, with a concept to integrate "unique" and "basic". Various models were introduced including "Liner" inspired by the military, which produced many fans for the high quality of the product. The brand became very popular despite the fact of being released after PORTER. From the late 80's to the early 90's, LUGGAGE LABEL was what most customers thought of when they heard the name of Yoshida.

The first specialty shop (based on partnership) opened in Shibuya PARCO part 1 in 1994 (the photo is the current "KURA CHIKA" Shibuya). KURA CHIKA is named after Kichizo Yoshida and his wife Chika.

"YOSHIDA" was released in September, 2004, a subsequent brand to "PORTER" and "LUGGAGE LABEL". The reason why the brand bears the company name is that they plan to expand the company's business to the world, by collaborating with companies, brands and shops overseas. The brand introduces Yoshida to the world by designing the products with new artists in other countries and selling the products in a specialty shop "colette" in Paris, France. Original model "BUILD" (photo) was released in 2008, distributed exclusively to selected shops.

Women's line launched in Autumn/Winter 2009. They had been offering unisex models which were popular among women. However, they developed this women's model to satisfy customers' needs even further. Items have a more feminine design, while keeping the brand's trait of "durability and functionality".

1906	The founder Kichizo Yoshida was born in Samukawa-cho, Kanagawa.

1935	Kichizo established Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo in Kandasuda-cho, Tokyo.

1951	Yoshida Kaban Seisakujo was reformed as Yoshida & Co., Ltd. and relocated to Higashi-Kanda, where the current head office is.

1953	Yoshida developed the Elegant Bag which was a great success.

1954	Empress Michiko, before her engagement, was a regular user of a Yoshida bag.

1956	New collection was presented at Nikkatsu Kokusai Kaikan.

1960	Shigeru Yoshida, Kichizo's first son, went to Italy.

1962	The first private brand PORTER was launched.

1963	Yoshida bag was used in Akira Kurosawa's film "High and Low"

1968	Yoshida's longest continuing series "Baron" was released.

1976	Kichizo received "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays".

1981	Then-Chief Director of Yoshida & Co., Ltd. became the first Japanese to be selected to the member of the New York Designers' Collective.

1983	"TANKER" was released.

1984	"LUGGAGE LABEL" was released.

1985	50th anniversary of Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

1994	Kichizo Yoshida passed away. The first specialty shop "KURA CHIKA" Shibuya opened.

1996	Additional styles for "TANKER" were released.

2000	The first directly-managed shop "KURA CHIKA YOSHIDA" Omotesando opened.

2002	The second directly-managed shop "KURA CHIKA YOSHIDA" Marunouchi opened.

2004	"YOSHIDA" brand was released.

2005	70th anniversary of Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

2007	Yoshida & Co., Ltd. product from "PORTER" and one from "LUGGAGE LABEL" received "Good Design Award". From that time on Yoshida & Co., Ltd. has been entering comapy's products to the award and have continued to win every year.

2009	"PORTER GIRL" was released.

2010	75th anniversary of Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

PORTER


PORTER is the main brand of Yoshida & Co., Ltd. that is branded in 1962. The name of the brand is taken from a "porter" who carries bags in a hotel.

LUGGAGE LABEL
LUGGAGE LABEL is launched in 1984. This brand is oriented to adults, and cutting edge technology and new materials are used for the branded bags.

PORTER GIRL
PORTER GIRL is the first women oriented brand by Yoshida & Co., Ltd. released in 2009. There are many unisex PORTER branded products, but PORTER GIRL adopts more feminine designs and fabrics.

Collaboration
The private brand, HEAD PORTER, designed by Hiroshi Fujiwara selected Yoshida & Co., Ltd. as an OEM partner, and orders Yoshida & Co., Ltd. some of the branded products. The collaboration brand with Beams, Japanese fashion brand, is called B印YOSHIDA and produces that is collaborated with different category of businesses. For example, a plan case that is the collaboration with Masamichi Katayama, a Japanese architect, and a camera case that is the collaboration with Ichigo Sugawara, a Japanese photographer and so on.

PORTER collaborated with Eric Clapton and C.F. Martin & Company and produced a pouch that is the extra item for the limited guitar.

The collaborated brand which is to support an artist Yusuke Yoshimura that is named as YUSUKE SHIMURA TOKYO NEWYORK supported by YOSHIDA&CO. launched in 2006.

Note
Teruyuki Yoshida(2003.6)(in Japanese) Interview of Yoshida & Co., Ltd.