Carhartt's duck canvas has come in many forms, from work jackets to double-knee pants (and you'll see them all around Dimes Square in New York), and that does include bags. But Carhartt WIP's collaborative totes created by Japanese bag brand RAMIDUS repurpose the brand's classic duck canvas for some slightly more elevated carryalls that're still steeped in the blue-collar ethos fetishized by the Nolita Dirtbags who wander Dime's Square.
RAMIDUS, born in 2019 from the ashes of defunct PORTER sub-label HEAD PORTER (co-founded by Hiroshi Fujiwara back in the day), specializes in hardy daily accessories formed from PORTER's signature fabrics and lightweight textiles. Think an IKEA tote but done to premium quality.
Because Hiroshi Fujiwara's fragment design is still tangentially involved, RAMIDUS maintains an in-house selection of fragment-branded totes; these Carhartt WIP totes borrow the strap from those bags, so this technically isn't a collaboration with fragment but, hey, close enough.
Available in two sizes, the RAMIDUS totes utilize Carhartt WIP's classic duck canvas in timeless beige and versatile black, with an alternative iteration crafted from weatherproof nylon and fitted with oversized Carhartt branding.
All of the RAMIDUS totes dropped on Carhartt WIP's Japanese store April 29, where they instantly sold out, priced at ¥12,100 for the small size and ¥13,750 for the larger ones (about $93 and $105, respectively).
Carhartt WIP does, of course, sell its own tote bags cut from cotton duck, though they're made of washed Dearborn canvas rather than the hardy stuff that informs RAMIDUS' bags.
There's not a ton of distinction between the two — all Carhartt Dearborn canvas is cotton duck though not all cotton duck is Dearborn — but the main thing to keep in mind is that Carhartt's duck textile is tough AF and built to be broken in, so unlike the pre-washed WIP totes, RAMIDUS' collaborative line will be shaped by whatever the wearer keeps inside.
