In 2006, there was a time when more people were riding road bikes and fixed gear bikes in the city, with fixed gear bikes being called the "last street culture." It feels like there were more people working as messengers, riding their road bikes through the streets than today.
In such an era, a bag brand called beruf baggage was established. The messenger bag released that same year quickly spread among cyclists, making the brand a hot topic.
Fast forward 18 years, continually pursuing the evolution of bag making, we spoke to Kenta Sano, the creative director of beruf baggage about its current state.
Gathering Opinions from Messengers for Realistic Pursuit
Let's take a look at the early days of the brand and its hit initial model."I started making bags as a new project for my company. Because my parents ran a bag manufacturing company, I was in an environment conducive to bag creation. Since my primary mode of transport was a bicycle, it naturally led to making bicycle-centric bags.
"At that time, a lot of people were working as messengers in the city, and I thought their unique style was really cool.
"I was inspired by that and decided to make a messenger bag. I called a messenger company and met with professional messengers. I wanted to thoroughly understand how they felt using the bags and what functions they needed before beginning the creation process.
"Though I didn’t aim to make bags solely for professionals, I wanted to create something for people who enjoy casual cycling in the city. By adding and subtracting functions based on what I observed, I created the original beruf baggage messenger bag."
The Next Phase of beruf baggage, Consolidated into Three Lines
Having seen the brand's roots, let's now look at the current state of beruf baggage.About five years into the brand, they produced the series "BLACK LINE" which focused on black and enhanced functionality, and later, another line called "COMFORT AND FUNCTIONAL" which was suitable for everyday use beyond cycling. These series formed the foundation for their current bag-making approach.
"After ten years, both the brand and I, as the director, aged a decade, prompting the need to move to the next phase.
"Currently, we are developing three lines: 'BIKE TO WORK,' which focuses on bicycle commuting, 'URBAN COMMUTER,' which formalizes the concept, and 'URBAN EXPLORER,' aimed at travel."
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