Porter x Monocle Collection

While these bags aren’t breaking news, with the opening of the Monocle store in London and the release of the bags through All Beams I thought I would highlight these great pieces. The stripped down look, minimal outer pockets and fine details make these Porter bags a little bit special. It’s nothing short of impressive what Monocle and Tyler Brule have accomplished within such a short period of time. While magazines are loosing money and going out of business they continue to push the limits and definition of what a magazine is. Product collaborators, retailers and continuous projects and small publications that really add a lot of value to the magazine itself. The Porter bags reflect that a bit with the multiple bags that come with the large duffle, weekender and short hauler. Each Porter x Monocle bag comes with a selection of smaller laptop cases, shoe bag, pencil case and more. The black and army green are great color choices and the leather detailing on the handles and hang tags is a great accent. Overall the project was perfectly executed and the collaboration of Monocle and Porter only keeps me more optimistic for the (y) x Porter collection.

Porter Shoulder Bag

One of the bags I never really get too excited about is shoulder bags. I find the look of duffles, totes and ruck sacks a lot more appealing to me, while a shoulder bag might be realistically more function. The storage capabilities and weight distribution both work better, if you’re ridding a bike it works pretty well. Still something about the look isn’t as classic to me, until you find the right bag. J. Crew’s leather mail bag is a great choice, along with the Purple Label piece on eBay right now for $700+. A more reasonable and no less cool option is Porter’s shoulder bag from the “Heat” collection. It’s made with industrial use tarpaulin and case leather with a tough look besides the varister nylon which is used for bullet-proof jacket for its abrasion quality and heat resistance. With some nice detailing, a diverse color and good quality, the shoulder bag isn’t looking too bad.

Porter Quo Vadis Leather Covers

With more and more people carrying moleskins, notepads, Behance products and everything in between, why not keep them stored safely and in style. These Porter covers are extremely classic looking with the dark leathers. The pen holder is also a nice touch, I hate having to dig through my bag for a pen when I’m quickly trying to record an idea or number. There are a lot of tools that help you to stay organized and this Porter piece helps you keep things looking good at the same time. These are far from a necessity, but definitely something I’d use if I had.

Porter Waxed Egyptian Cotton Tote

Another great Porter tote. They just updated allbeams.com with some great items so you’ll have to excuse the Porter posts or enjoy them if you’re a fan. This tote has some nice detailing in the leather handles and gold zipper. This piece definitely puts most tote bags to shame, the quality and convenience is undeniable. The heavy waxed cotton is manufactured by British Millerain company known for using the high quality Nile River Egyptian cotton, only the second best in the world. Between the waxed cotton and the bride leather, you could guess this tote bag is going to look better every year until it falls apart, which should be awhile. This bag also goes with pretty much everything I wear which makes it pretty appealing as well. Available for about $240 US.

Porter Chest Daypack

This is a really dope bag. Leave to Porter to keep hittin’ us in the head with the heat. This tote/backpack is extremely ideal for the urban landscape, coming in the classic olive, brown and black colors with perfectly placed leather pieces, and for the price of about $155 US. That is a seriously good deal. I could easily use this for school, camera bag, even my tripod would fit in, plus being able to utilize the backpack function with rolling on two wheels would be nice. I actually find I end up walking rather than riding my bike a lot just because I can’t carry my tote bag on the bike. These are likely to go fast as a lot of the great Porter pieces do. They are available at allbeams.com but if you need a Japanese proxy I have a trustworthy fellow I can set you up with.

Porter Heavy Duty Series

That’s right more bags, Porter bags too. This time it’s the ‘Heavy Duty’ series, inspired by postman bags. Tote bags are not my favourite. The handles are always either too long or too short, I always smash my knee into them when I walk, you’re always having to change hands, your elbow hurts after a while and you always have to put them down to do anything with your hands. Having said that though, this tote is the best one I’ve seen in a long time. Adjustable handles with nice brass buckles to go with that tasty chocolate brown and nice thick canvas. The messenger is a better bag in my opinion (check it after the jump), but it doesn’t look nearly as good as the tote. Read more

In My Bag

I thought I would take the chance to do another version of My Bag. This time, it’s actually what’s inside my bag right now. There is actually less than I thought, but I am within walking distance of school and Gastown so I never really need to take too much with me, and I don’t usually take extra clothes or anything, so my bag isn’t super exciting.

Porter tote, heavy black canvas material. Porter Black Beauty wallet for cards and keys. Porter camera case with Canon XSi inside. iPod, older 30 gig video version. Super wack Samsung-Telus phone. It was the cheapest one I could get, I’m trapped with Telus for another year, Canadians feel me. Business cards for the daily hustle. Alexander Olch cashmere tie. Stussy Deluxe cashmere cable knit, in black and khaki - Thanks again Stussy. IdN magazine, seriously dope design in there, great for looking, inspiration and learning. Monocle magazine, although I’m not too excited on this issue for the most part, Nomad was featured in it and it came with an accessory catalog that was nice. Not pictured are a couple essentials, chap stick and flash drive, measuring tape and apartment keys.

Bag Interlude

First off I really appreciate all the bags so far. I’m trying to come up with a way to help enhance the concept, unfortunately I’m trying to do 17 other things as well, so it might be a minute. I did want to take a second to reflect on what we’ve seen so far. To my pleasant surprise, lots of Porter. It’s been interesting to see all the varying things people put in there, from condoms to computers to hats, scarves, fruit and ear phones. I often wonder what the things are that you readers are really feeling and rocking/carrying yourself, or at least want to be for most of us. There is an obvious dominance on the iPhone/iPod/Mac Book front which I’m not surprised to see, even though some seem pretty against it…I think a couple of my favorite items have been Simon’s red Margiela knitted hat (which I offered to buy from him), Sahlan’s Visvim Nomad jacket, Jake’s Persols. Marcus’s balaclava, and John’s J Crew leather messenger. Some really good stuff, I didn’t doubt it, but it’s good to know everyone is holding down their style and keeping their taste good.

Friendly Fire

Fit: At 16, this guy is years ahead of the curve. (Lookbook.Nu)

Design: I’ve never been able to beat a Rubix Cube, but I want a Rubitone (SwissMiss) 

Music: The election’s only a week away and Premier has the fever too (Inqmnd)

Video: 8 years later…  (Jake Davis)

Bag: I think I like Porter’s latest offering, but maybe I don’t. I don’t know if I do (The Glade)

In Simon’s Bag

Although I’ve been directing the bags to info@hyrcollective.com I’m still not totally used to checking it everyday. Today I was happy to find a handful of new bags awaiting my inspection. There are some really dope pieces, but this is one of my favorites so far. I love the polaroid shot, red MM knit and Porter key holder. I used to be worried I blogged about Porter too much and people might not be into it, from the amount of Porter in people’s bags, real and fictional, I’m no longer concerned. Now onto Simon’s stuff…

Black Visvim Cordu 22 backpack. Dolfin dark chocolate with Earl Grey tea… Sounds terrible but it’s actually. pretty good. Macbook charger. Nokia phone charger. Smythson notebook. Polaroid film. Brown leather Comme des Garcons wallet. Black Arc’teryx gloves. Polished rootbeer Oakley Frogskins. Macbook. Neighborhood x Porter key holder and keys. Bootcamp Volume 5… Really nice Japanese photography mag, check it out at www.bootcampmagazine.com. Shadows by Ray Carney… A book about John Cassavetes’ 1959 film of the same name. Beige/Cream APC college scarf. Faber-Castell retractable HB pencil. Red Martin Margiela knitted hat. Polaroid camera… Added to bag after taking this picture.

Friendly Fire

Retail: A little weekend sale at one of the best shops in all the land | Nomad

Clothes: Nom de Guerre takes home the title of best Marled wool sweater | Mens.style Upgrader

Business: Sure iPhones are cool, but are people buying them? Only 6.9 million in the last quarter | Tech Crunch

Life: How many fans do you have? Apparently you only need 1,000 true ones and you’re set | Aesthetic Poetic

Bags: One of my favorite Porter bags has been re-released - The Phototote | Allbeams

Porter Family Pack

Who doesn’t have a Mac Book, iPod/Phone, DS Lite and digital camera with nowhere to put them? I know I have a couple of those items and for some reason I like the idea of having the same carrying case style and model for all of them. Although I don’t have a DS Lite, I could fill it up with pens, change and business cards from people to make use of the family pack. Ideally I would have the black beauty pack all together but since Porter has kindly put this selection together I am okay with it. I just love Porter, how they execute their products, the ideas, the usability, the quality, everything. I’ve said it over and over, I’ve blogged it over and over, guess what? I’m not going to stop. I will make everyone at least like Porter by reading this blog, at least that’s one of my lower priority goals right now. All available here.

Porter & Filson @ Annex

I have heard about the Annex shop by Steve Alan but I hadn’t really checked it out until I was looking for those wool ties. Turns out it has a great stock list and they actually carry Porter. I usually get pretty excited when I find a North American retailer that carries the line since I think there are about six. The shop also has some great Filson pieces in the men’s baggage section of the website. They are pretty much the two ideal bag makers I could deal with and not need anybody else. I like the rounded Porter Boston bag quite a bit and costing only $220 isn’t too bad either. The online shop is worth a browse if your trying to spend some money from home this Sunday.

In The Bag

Here’s a new series I’m going to try to keep up since I seemed to run out of the ‘Things I Like’ posts. It’s called ‘In the Bag.’ Basically I’ll pick a bag I like and fill it up with more stuff I like. After just doing this first installment I can already tell it’s going to be a love/hate piece. Finding all of this stuff makes me want it more. Something with beautifully photographed products on a white background just looks so nice. I suppose you might get that idea from the aesthetic of the website and magazine. Anyways, for the first round I found an amazing Porter Ruc Sack to fill up. I put in a (Malin+Goetz) candle in case you find yourself in a stinky situation, because of the fall weather I went with a knit ball cap from Jill Sander and a nice scarf by A.P.C. For a little reading, or more looking I needed to pick up the last issue of Honeyee Mag and of course to make sure you look like your reading that Japanese you’ll need some Robert Geller glasses. I didn’t feel like scouring for a glasses case so if you need to you can wrap them in the scarf.

Also if readers feel liking emailing in their ‘bag’ it would be cool to post a reader’s bag each week, since I know you guys have good taste too, or you wouldn’t be reading h(y)r. Send them to info@hyrcollective

Porter Leather Handbag

Now I’m actually not sure whether this handbag/wallet is meant for men, I believe it is. Either way I think the number of options for guys to keep their cards, cash, keys, etc. are pretty much at an all time high. Since a lot of us are now carrying a duffel, tote, or messenger bag, the need for a really small wallet isn’t as high. Larger bags like this Porter piece would be great. You can fit everything into it, it’s easy to carry, and it would fit conveniently into whatever form of day bag you lug around. The brown leather is also really good, as it always is. The design is very clean with no exterior branding and a nice patch of Italian cow shoulder leather for you to break in as you may. Available at allbeams.com for 18,90o Yen.