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Carry Collaborations
CARRY COLLAB XXVI
Manhattan Portage x Carryology | New York City REDUX
A brand born out of the gritty landscape of the New York City streets. The pioneers of the original authentic messenger bag. And one of the oldest icons in the game, reimagined and refined. Introducing the Manhattan Portage x Carryology Redux Messenger.
On Route With a Global Icon
The iconic, red label of the Manhattan skyline. You’ll spot it in nearly every major city in the world. From Montreal to Melbourne, Tokyo to Oslo, Stockholm to San Francisco. Carried by tattooed bike messengers, Tokyo fashion kids, and travelers.
Born in 1983, Manhattan Portage came from a simple idea: to take the ruggedness and functionality of outdoor packs and deliver it to the tough-talking New Yorkers, in need of gear that wouldn’t fail in the urban jungle. Carry pieces with a distinct urban aesthetic filled with street art, pop art, and iconography of New York City.
Tough and reliable, they’ve earned their street cred. What was originally designed for bike messengers in NYC and DJs in the East Village has grown into nearly 40 years of carry history, and collaborations with Stussy and Puma and Alpha Industries.
So when the opportunity arose to work with the icons of NYC, we got on a plane and headed to the Big Apple soon after, to dive into a catalog as expansive as the Five Boroughs, to find that one project that would stoke our community.
Acknowledging the Pioneers
Now, where to begin? MP has hundreds of products that have been designed at their New York City studio. Nearly 40 years of street, bike, skate, and urban-ready pieces to choose from. As a team, trying to make sense of it all was difficult, until we narrowed in on the truest one thing, the key to Manhattan Portage’s identity, and innovation that made the brand big in New York, and then everywhere across the globe – they are the pioneers of the bicycle messenger.
We’d design a piece to acknowledge Manhattan Portage’s role in making the messenger a new category, an icon and symbol of what it meant to be a bike messenger in the ’80s. The shoulder bag carried high on the back, made New York tough, designed so the user can be agile and free.
Admit it, we all wanted to be a bicycle messenger back in the day, one of those hard-nosed demons peeling through grids of yellow cabs, at least for a fleeting moment.
But the messenger bag has so much more function than those of the two-wheeled persuasion. They’re epic for urban exploring, traveling, office life, and daily adventures. So we’d take it and dial it up a notch. Design a messenger that would be all the good things that make a messenger great, then weave in more refinement, more function, more X-factor.
From Starting Point to Black and Beyond
Looking through their historical archives, we found the evolution of MP’s original messenger design, a starting point to draw inspiration from: The NY Messenger. As the design phase moved forward we plucked design DNA from many of their other products, then added our own patterning and features, creating a brand new product from the ground up.
We were heavily inspired by their premium Black Label, popular in both the USA and very popular in Japan. Because they use high-end materials, clean patterning, and a heavy focus on the details.
A Class Above With Konbu
So, how do we live up to the legacy of the Black Label line, as well as deliver something high quality and special and new? We connected with long-time MP collaborator CORDURA® and asked to dig into their stable of fabrics for their most special offerings. We flicked through swatch after swatch after swatch, searching for hand-feel, technical processes, laboratory water resistance, durability, tensile strength, and more.
While CORDURA®’s catalog is as equally impressive and deep as Manhattan Portage’s, there was one fabric that really spoke to us. A fabric that we rarely see out in the world, save for luxe makers like Racing Atelier. Konbu. A super technical fabric, mixing luxury and performance, and made at one of CORDURA®’s top-tier mills, produced by Komatsu in Japan. It has all the military-grade durability of CORDURA®’s other tough fabrics, with a special texture treatment added to the 500D nylon. This treatment is where the fabric gets its name; “Konbu” means “kelp” in Japanese, because of its surface crinkle, and natural and organic look.
It’s light, 20-60% lighter than waxed canvas, and is sturdy and keeps its shape like UHMWPE (sail cloth).
And in addition to its high-tech processing technique, it has a DWR coating applied to the finish, providing stain resistance and water resistance, for whatever the streets have to throw at you.
Riding With Buffalo Leather
With our selection of Konbu, we needed to find an equal partner to complement our main fabric. Something equally as refined and awesome. So what’s cooler than Konbu fabric? Konbu plus leather. Buttery soft full-grain buffalo leather, rumbled and in black.
It would feature across the base panel of the bag, and be more visible when the bag rides high, giving it the X-factor points we were looking for.
To carry this across the piece, we use it again for the luxuriously padded grab handle, so it will soften and mold thanks to the oils of your hand, getting softer and more comfortable with time.
All Black With High-Vis Liner
You know how we roll. For this messenger to be versatile, and at home in any environment, formal or fun, we went with the All Black Everything motif.
Then, we selected the liner fabric. Big surprise, it would be bright orange, a feature we include with all of our collabs, as it makes it easy to spot small items down inside your bag in a dark setting, via visual contrast. We opted for a tough CORDURA® 210D ripstop nylon. Great hand-feel and excellent performance (durability and water resistance). Plus, the addition of ripstop adds just a little extra insurance.
For Extra Bite, Add Cobras
Our hardware choice included a first for Manhattan Portage. You guessed it, we wanted to use the best buckles in the world, AustriAlpin Cobra buckles. For the flap, we’d utilize two of the 25mm buckles in their new Pro-Style offering, and for the main seatbelt webbing shoulder strap (with built-in web keeper, so it stays nice and tidy), a Pro-Style 50mm Cobra buckle. All three finished in the matte black finish, for a subtle touch of understated class.
And inside, a 20mm magnetic Fidlock SNAP buckle for the laptop compartment. Both absolutely overbuilt, which is just the way we like it.
Combine and Organize
Just because this is a messenger format, doesn’t mean your organization should be pared back, right? This is where we had a lot of fun: 13 pockets/compartments in total. Including two bottle pockets on the exterior, and the interior. A massive cavern for the main compartment, with a rear padded laptop sleeve that can swallow up to a 16″ MacBook Pro, with two zippered pockets on the front side of the laptop sleeve for small accessories. On the exterior, under the front flap, there is a large mouth drop pocket, held closed with a hidden magnet, snapping it down and out of the way when you don’t need it and quickly opening wide when you do.
Quick Access, Always
The biggest issue with messengers at large is when you’re wearing them, you need to open the flap and “look over” it to access the contents. Not ideal when you just want to grab a pack of Fruit Stripe gum. So we did something pretty special. Added two zippered pockets on the sides of the flap, which can be accessed while the flap is closed. Stealth and quick access, so you can enjoy those fruity flavors in speed and style.
Trolley Pass-Through
Since this is a messenger, designed for both everyday and travel, we added a trolley handle seatbelt webbing strap on the backside, kept tidy with a nice button snap. Ready to roll atop your favorite roller when you want to cruise through the airport. Being that this is an exterior zipper, we chose YKK AquaGuard® for extra water resistance.
External Carry Dialed Up
In one of our many design meetings with the team, both Laurence and I had brought tripods. As we were filling up one of the early test prototypes, we realized a long object like a tripod or umbrella wouldn’t quite fit. This wasn’t a problem, it was an opportunity! So on the bottom, we added two removable 1″ seatbelt webbing accessory straps to lash down items such as these. Remove for a clean look when not in use, bust them out and toss them on with the metal G-hook hardware when you need to carry a bit more. Elastic webbing keepers on these, to keep it tidy, of course.
Redux
Redux
adjective
brought back; revived; resurgent:
A fitting name for an awesome project. It perfectly captures the concept for this entire project. Manhattan Portage, and the team here at Carryology, brought back their most iconic piece, the classic NY messenger, and reimagined it. A piece inspired by several different MP pieces, to create something new that’s utilitarian and smart for wherever you adventure. And a true celebration of Manhattan Portage’s special carry legacy.
Manhattan Portage x Carryology Redux Messenger Bag.
Launching on August 25th, 12 NOON, NYC time.
Taylor Welden
Creative Director | Industrial Designer
Taylor designs for countless carry brands, across every carry category. He’s contributed to the lost art of manly moustaches, and earned a reputation for reviews that keep our core carry nuts learning.
WAYS TO CARRY