Starbucks Japan is responsible for a ton of wild projects, which at least partially makes up for the chain's fairly mediocre coffee. You've got enormous Reserve restaurants, for instance, and a surprising plethora of designer collaborations from big-ish names like AMBUSH and Hiroshi Fujiwara's fragment design.
Again, doesn't make Starbucks coffee taste any better but it does give you a decent reason to actually stop by (and then go to a local Japanese coffee joint for an actual cup of Joe).
The latest genuinely nifty Starbucks Japan activation brings in heritage bagmaker PORTER Yoshida, famed for team-ups with partners as disparate as Fendi and Studio Ghibli.
60-year-old PORTER has devised a series of special bags made of its signature MA-1-inspired nylon exclusively for Starbucks Japan, ranging from teeny totes that can just barely carry a coffee to enormous pouches that can carry, uh, multiple coffees, I guess.
They're pretty great little bags either way, updating a drum bag shape with hardy handles, adjustable strap, and even a carabiner.
I suppose the spacious design is intended to fit the new PORTER x Starbucks tumblers, which place PORTER's cute luggage carrier mascot atop a series of reusable bottles.
For the average consumer, there are several regular PORTER x Starbucks drum bags, which retail for $200-$270 or so at current exchange rates depending on the size. Pricey to be sure, but PORTER makes nice stuff and typically charges a couple hundred bucks for its well-made accessories.
However, for the true Starbucks heads (as in, people who call it "Starbies"), there's a luxe bag graced by the motifs of Starbucks' higher-end Reserve line that retails for an imposing $330. That's a lot of money for something that's supposed to carry coffee but, then again, there are definitely people who just really like Starbucks.
These "Starbies" people do exist outside of TikTok, I assume, and they are terrifying.
It's odd that Starbucks Japan and PORTER haven't already collaborated, too, given each companies' respective tendency to team up with big brands.
There were a few single PORTER CLASSIC x Starbucks drops some time back but that's small potatoes.
As pricey as this PORTER x Starbucks stuff is, at least it's more thoughtful than a co-branded coffee cup.
