Japanese design sets these suitcases apart
T he issue of last year had an unintended side effect: it hastened the Philippines’ transition into a luggage market that preferred hard cases with no outside pockets that bullets could be dropped into.
Around 60 percent of Pinoy travelers now prefer hard to soft luggage, according to Darwin Bañez, assistant vice president and general manager of the Primer Group of Companies. “Right now in the Philippines the shift towards the hard side is becoming a lot more apparent,” he notes. “The hard side is a deterrent, and it’s also a trend.”
To meet the demand, more hard-case brands are proliferating in the Philippines. One of the most established is Ace, a Japanese brand that’s been making laglag-bala bags since the 1940s. So esteemed is the company that they manufactured luggage for Samsonite for over 40 years.
“We have been doing business with Samsonite, which is the leading luggage company in the world, for 44 years, since 1960 to 2004,” says Yuichiro Noguchi, managing director of Singapore Ace Pte. Ltd. When that partnership dissolved in 2004, Ace created its own brand and bag collections ranging from luggage to briefcases and ladies’ bags, and did such big business it became the No. 1 luggage brand in Japan.
At present the company is expanding in Southeast Asia and has big expectations from the Philippines, where the luggage is sold through 50 points of sale in Metro Manila alone. The Japanese art of organization is seen in the luggage interiors, which are lined with fabrics inspired by traditional wrapping cloths.
ESSENCE OF JAPANESE DESIGN
With all the hard cases now on the market, what sets Ace apart from the competition?
According to Noguchi, their ace in the hole (pardon the pun) is a Japanese design team that manages to translate the essence of true Japan in the design elements of their three main luggage collections. Ripples of water, for example, inspired the Ripple suitcases with their sloping rounded edges.
“We used this design in our luggage is because, for the Japanese, the ripple is a symbol of Japanese beauty,” Noguchi explains. “For example, this ripple is used for Japanese dry gardens made of only stones and sand — no plants, no flowers, no water — like the gardens in Kyoto. Japanese think this is very beautiful.”
In the Rockpaint collection, there’s a reason behind the fun fashion colors of the hard cases. “These Rockpaint colors are taken from Japanese traditional art made from natural ingredients,” Noguchi continues. “This red is from a flower we use to make natural pigment. So this Rockpaint is from Japanese traditional natural colors.”
Ace’s flagship collection is Palisades, from “an English word that means a wall that protects the inside from the outside,” Noguchi says. “But in Japanese, ‘palisades’ is a very short, 50-cm bamboo fence put around small houses to protect it from dogs or cats coming into the house. You can still see these palisades in old Japanese wooden houses in Kyoto. This is a kind of old Japanese beautiful style — very deep meaning behind the designs.”
Even the luggage interiors follow the same Japanese design philosophy: fabrics used to wrap presents 300 years ago inspired the fabrics lining the inside of the suitcases.
The Japanese penchant for organization also comes into play in the way the luggage is compartmentalized. Your personal effects aren’t secured merely with crisscrossing straps but also a protective flap that doubles as a mesh pouch for storing small or flat items. Other nifty features include TSA combination locks and a wheel
brake on the back of the bag that you can set to “stop” if you don’t want your four-wheeled suitcase rolling somewhere without you.
Ace also offers the newly trending clam cases, which more and more travelers are choosing over the standard zipper type. “Partly because of the TSA locks,” Bañez says. “Second, some people feel it’s more secure because it’s airtight. But it’s still pretty light.”
Like many hard cases today, Ace luggage is made with polycarbonate, so it’s durable but also lightweight, and, as Bañez observes, in terms of luggage it’s all about weight for most Pinoys. “Second would be the design — more people are becoming more conscious of how they look with the bags that they carry. Right now the trend is more modern, sleeker, bags, which is perfect for the collections we have right now.”
Prices are also competitive for such state-of-the-art hard cases, ranging from P11,000 to P18,000, with Rock paint being the most affordable collection.
“Ace matches simplicity with functionality,” says Bañez, who sees a burgeoning market for these Japanese bags in the Philippines. “Especially now that travel has become so accessible with all the budget airlines and package deals.” In the Philippines, Ace luggage is distributed by the Primer Group of Companies and is available at Flight 001, Travel Club and select department stores. Follow me on Facebook (Therese Jamora-Garceau), Twitter @tjgarceau and Instagram @ tj108_drummergirl.