For sale here is a bag by the Tembea label, a somewhat smaller Japanese brand based in Kyoto that focuses primarily on making bags. Their ethos is to design bags for a specific purpose such as carrying bread, toys, newspapers, vegetables and so on. Like many small-scale Japanese manufacturers, quality is first and foremost with Tembea. All of their bags are produced on vintage shuttle looms, using combed cotton yarns that are treated with paraffin. This makes the bags highly water resistant and pretty rigid at first, but like a pair of quality denim pants the bag will gradually break in with wear and turn into something totally unique.
This bag is Tembea’s “wire bag”. It is intended as a highly functional two-way bag – it has an adjustable shoulder strap as well as handles allowing you to carry it as a hand bag. There is a flap, where you can leave the flap facing out when worn on the shoulder or use it to cover the interior contents when using it as a handbag. The purpose here is to work as a good everyday carryall across a variety of situations. It works well on a bike or carried on its own for city use.
A lot of Japanese labels are known for their obsession with quality materials and construction, doing one particular thing the best it can possibly be done. That’s Tembea with bags. These pieces are pretty hard to come by outside of Japan. They have limited international distribution, but are well worth checking out. Retail on this bag is about $150, but get it here much more reasonably.
Size is a small as noted, working well for a unisex bag. I measure the height at 10.5” / 26cm from top to bottom, width at 15.5” / 38cm from left to right at the widest point, and depth at 4.5” / 12cm. The bag comes in lightly used, generally good shape. There is some fading of the material, and the fabric should continue to pleasantly fade with work. No holes, tears or stains. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $28.
