Yoshida & Co., Ltd.

Yoshida & Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer based in Tokyo that designs and produces bags and accessories. Founded by Kichizo Yoshida in 1935, the company is best known for its PORTER and LUGGAGE LABEL brands of products.[1]

Yoshida & Co., Ltd.
Native name
吉田カバン株式会社
TypeKK
IndustryBags, fashion accessories
FoundedApril 1, 1935 (1935-04-01)
FounderKichizo Yoshida
Headquarters
1-17-6 Higashi-Kanda Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-0031
,
Japan
RevenueUS$152 million (2003)
DivisionsPORTER
LUGGAGE LABEL
PORTER Girl
Websiteyoshidakaban.com

Producing "Japan Made" products, Yoshida & Co. gained popularity among young people in the 1980s for its low-key wallets, bags and backpacks. The company's most popular brand, PORTER, often collaborates with other fashion brands and consumer electronics companies to produce limited-edition products, examples of which have included cases and bags for Sony PSP, VAIO, and Apple PowerBook, and iPod products.[2]

Yoshida & Co. distributes its products online and through over 700 stores worldwide, including three official company shops named Kura Chicka Yoshida located in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as in 28 Kura Chika partnership stores located domestically in Japan, and internationally in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.[3]

Brands

Porter
PORTER logo

Porter, branded in 1962, is the main brand of Yoshida & Co., Ltd. The name of the brand is taken from a "porter" who carries bags in a hotel.[4]

Luggage Label

Luggage Label was launched in 1984. This brand is oriented to adults.[4]

Porter Girl

Porter Girl, released in 2009, was the first women's oriented brand by Yoshida & Co., Ltd. There are many unisex Porter branded products, but Porter Girl adopts more feminine designs and fabrics.[4]

Collaboration

The private brand, Head Porter,[5] 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 an extra item for a limited guitar.[6]

A collaboration brand to support the artist Yusuke Yoshimura, which is named Yusuke Shimura Tokyo New York, was launched in 2006.[7]

References
  1. "Yoshida & Co. – Company History". Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  2. Sony Store Web Page Archived April 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Yoshida & Co. – Shop Info
  4. Yoshida & Co., Ltd. history Archived May 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Head Porter Official Web Page
  6. Martin Eric Clapton Signature Model 2011 Japan Limited Edition OOO-42ECJ Madagascar
  7. Yusuke Shimura profile
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