On PORTER's Rugged Bags, a Traditional Bolivian Craft Is Kept Alive
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PORTER's latest collection is not just a series of playfully patterned bags, it is the work of local tradespeople keeping alive a traditional form of fabric making.
Together with THE INOUE BROTHERS, a Copenhagen-based design studio creating awareness of responsible production methods, PORTER has tapped a workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, to update its signature military-inspired bags. The result? A meshing of two opposing, inherently different materials: hardwearing, no-nonsense nylon combined with patterned, traditionally woven fabric.
Against the backdrop of PORTER's typically rugged craftsmanship, panels of aguayo fabric made in the Bolivian workshop emerge on three bags: a waist bag, a backpack, and the brand's Balloonsac model (the latter is a style of drawcord-wielding crossbody bag, FYI).
And accompanying each bag is a handmade finger puppet made in Bolivia. An indisputably cute extra touch.
Offered in either navy blue or olive green, the three bags will be released on January 18 — hot on the heels of PORTER's collaboration with Starbucks, released on January 16.
PORTER is known to be partial to collaborations with other brands, a continued outpour of varied co-branded link-ups coming from the Japanese label, and this week’s releases are indicative of the wildly disparate parties it brings into its world: one day it's working together with a huge, multinational coffee conglomerate, the next it’s teaming up with local craftspeople. PORTER's military-infused bags truly can do it all.
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