Taiwan's Porter International enters Italian market at Pitti Uomo
Porter International, the Taiwanese label known for its functional backpacks and shoulder bags, has entered the Italian market with a debut pop-up at Flow Store in Florence, coinciding with the 108th edition of Pitti Uomo. 'Italy is a key part of our international growth strategy,' said founder and owner Andy Lin in an interview with FashionNetwork.com.
The Florence activation marks the brand's first move toward adapting its offering to European consumers and sets the stage for further expansion across the region. 'While directly operated stores are part of our long-term plan, our current priority is building strong partnerships with local retailers,' Lin added.
Founded in 2001, Porter International has established itself as one of Taiwan's most iconic accessories brands, widely recognized for its bestselling New Heat collection. 'It's been our top performer for more than two decades. We've refined the design over time-based on customer feedback to match evolving lifestyles,' Lin said.
To mark its Italian debut, the brand unveiled an exclusive preview of the New Heat collection in a new Deep Blue colorway. The updated line will be available starting in October at twelve select retailers across Italy, including stores in Florence, Milan, Genoa, Brescia, and La Spezia.
Spanning backpacks, shoulder bags, totes and messenger styles, the New Heat pieces are made from high-density nylon, featuring seatbelt-inspired straps and details. Inspired by New York City police uniforms, each bag includes an original flashlight imported from the U.S. and a detachable leather keychain.
Globally, Porter International operates across six countries, with distribution via 21 multi-brand stockists and 86 standalone stores, including shop-in-shops in major department stores. The brand plans to open another store this June, followed by three more in Taiwan by the end of 2025.
'Taiwan is undergoing a decade of major retail expansion, particularly in the department store sector, and we're excited to grow alongside that momentum,' Lin said. 'We also intend to increase our presence in China with more store openings by the end of 2025.'
Although the company does not disclose its revenue, Lin described 2023 as a high-growth year. 'By contrast, 2024 has been more challenging, with sales down about 5% year-on-year. However, our department store business has remained relatively stable.'
Despite ongoing macroeconomic pressures, the brand continues to perform strongly in its core markets—Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. 'We remain confident in meeting our 2025 goals,' Lin concluded.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
5 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Issey Miyake in Pitti: Homme Plissé in Villa della Petraia
Home › News › Trade shows Download Print The key to any brand's survival over generations is the strength of its DNA and few marques have more stylish genetics than Issey Miyake, which presented its Homme Plissé collection Wednesday night in Florence. Issey Miyake spring 2026 collection in Florence - The great and much-loved Issey's greatest signifier – his endless pleats - was the leitmotif of the whole show staged in the garden of a Medici villa in the hills above Florence. And when one is talking about longevity few brands had a longer history than the Medici family. This season's Guest of Honor in Pitti, fashion's best organized trade show, Homme Plissé's location was Villa Medicea della Petraia, a beautiful villa overlooking the capital of the Renaissance bathed in sunset light. The fall 2025 clothes, in turn, were highly respectful of the brand's DNA, with every single look containing one pleated element. The heart of the matter was the quirky cutting and tailoring, where pleated shoulder holsters covered redingotes, or cardigans came with tunic/dresses. Issey Miyake spring 2026 collection in Florence - Miyake was a world leader in fabric recycling – famously opening a shop in Ginza two decades ago all of whose products were made of recycled bottles. A tradition respected with some very cool translucent nylon raincoats and jerkins. Made in a palette of Clongowes Wood purple, faded lime, sinful red, or priestly black – there were scores of very fashionable and wearable clothes. One of Japan's greatest designers, Issey Miyake founded his eponymous house in 1970. He built an iconic body of work defined by technologically driven fabrics, artistic silhouettes, unique collaborations, and a long-term fascination with pleated textiles—hence the collection's name. Pre-show, waiters looking very swish in classic Homme Plissé pleated recycled polyester jackets served clever cocktails in mixes of gin, ouzo or Japanese tea. Guy and girl models wandered around the narrow paths of the villa's ornate garden and like a lot of fashion displays in gardens, the show never really took off. Nor did it rise to a crescendo, especially as no designer took a bow. Still, Issey always dreamed of dressing a generation with a certain gentle elegance, and this collection continued that idea. Issey Miyake spring 2026 collection in Florence - Inside the beautiful villa, guests had toured around a very slim elevated - pleats covered – circular table bearing a whole series of abstract painted illustrations. The show invitation actually came with a very slim Perspex Natura paintbrush. Beside the sketches were printed fabric swatches in the same designs. Many subsequently appearing in some gloriously vibrant colors – dense red and orange dawns; moody autumnal browns; or green and yellow abstractions. All these sketches presented underneath some magnificent frescos by the artist Volterrano, celebrating the glories of the Medici family. Their famed five six ball emblem prominently displayed. Which, in a sense, this show mimicked by celebrating the ever-powerful DNA of the late great Issey Miyake. Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved.
Fashion Network
5 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Guess co-founder Paul Marciano: 'In fashion, every day is a challenge'
Published June 18, 2025 At its opening ceremony on Tuesday, June 17, the Florentine men's fashion trade show awarded the "Pitti Immagine Uomo 2025 Prize" to Guess, in the presence of Paul Marciano, who co-founded the American jeans brand with his brothers in 1981, and his son Nicolai, representing the new generation within the explained how the brand got off the ground with the opening of a boutique in Florence. This was the brand's first location in Europe, enabling it to draw inspiration from Italian style and, above all, to accelerate its expansion to reach sales of $3 billion (just over 2.7 billion euros). On the sidelines of the press conference, the entrepreneur spoke to about the keys to his success and his vision of today's fashion market. Paul Marciano at the Pitti Uomo award ceremony - ph DM What's it like running a fashion company? Paul Marciano: Every day is a challenge, but every day is exciting, in the sense that you always find a solution. In fact, there are challenges in everything, with customs duties, with international conflicts, and so on. What's new today? There's nothing new! It's always been that way since the company's inception. One day there's a crisis with the banks, another with the market, another with a war. We adapt. We always say 'we adapt and we manage'. That's what the fashion business is all about. But it's not easy every day. You have to be careful and well aware of all the daily challenges. Ads FNW: What's the most important thing to keep going? PM: The most important thing for me is always to maintain and protect the people who work around you. Human capital is the real value of a company. The product is important, but for me, the people who run the company are the most important element because they are the soul, the heart of the business. Without that soul, you get nowhere. FNW: How do you see the fashion market at the moment? PM: The context is still complicated. There's still a new war that exploded three days ago. But in the end, it's like this every day. When one crisis ends, another begins. I think that despite everything, fashion will keep its place. People will continue to be interested in fashion if you remain loyal and faithful to your brand. You mustn't think you can do everything for everyone. You can't. It doesn't exist. We have to stay close to our consumers, ask ourselves why they come to buy our brand, stay true to our principles, and keep the momentum going. Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved.
Fashion Network
5 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Valentino Garavani launches Vain bag campaign, Roger Vivier celebrates pre-fall collection
Two key European luxury labels have launched new campaigns with Valentino Garavani and Roger Vivier launching new creative marketing drives in the accessories and footwear sectors. Following the recent launch of the Nellcôte bag campaign, Maison Valentino now continues its storytelling journey with the unveiling of the second chapter: the Valentino Garavani Vain bag campaign. Conceived by creative director Alessandro Michele and shot by photographer Sharna Osborne, we're told the campaign 'is a tactile exploration of emotional intimacy and femininity. Evoking the aesthetic of analogue photography, it crafts an atmosphere where beauty is suspended in time'. The brand added that 'the images, with their faded colour tones and grainy backdrops, are imbued with a powerful texture that recalls the dreamlike sensibility of early film and the intensity of voyeuristic cinema'. Looking almost like video stills, the bag is the focal point of every image as the visuals portray two women 'in a series of compositions that suggest an atmosphere of private and shared allure. Whether together or apart, they appear caught in a world of whispered secrets and shadowy glamour, where the Vain bag becomes a silent witness to their intimacy'. The campaign supports new developments for the Vain bag this season with the introduction of a new top handle style featuring an elongated handle that allows it to be worn on the shoulder. There's also a new oval-shaped vanity bag, with a top flap acting as a lid, that 'brings a modern attitude to the line while preserving the original bag's refined codes'. The signature shoulder bags also return with updated finishes and 'rich surfaces', that is, multicolour floral embroideries rendered in beads, velvet, raffia, or leather, and a new printed animalier variation referencing the RTW collection. Vivier's Paris life Meanwhile, at Riger Vivier, the new campaign for the autumn 2025 pre-collection is called ' La Vie Parisienne ' and was conceived by brand creative director Gherardo Felloni 'as both homage and provocation'. Shot inside a hôtel particulier (one of the grand townhouses found in key French cities) 'and along hushed city streets, the story unfolds like a secret — caught in a glance, stretched across a brocade sofa. It captures something rarer than beauty: character. Here, elegance isn't constructed. It's instinctual'. So far, so very Parisian. But the company said that 'this is not the Paris of clichés. Nor is the Vivier woman one. She is elegant but unpredictable, refined yet untamed — never explaining, always becoming. Like the muses who once wore Vivier — Deneuve, Bardot, and beyond — she moves between worlds. Perhaps an art dealer. Perhaps a writer. Or neither. She doesn't follow fashion. She defines style'. It features a variety of both formal and casual shoes, along with bags. So who are the stars of this particular show? As far as the models are concerned, Felloni has cast three women 'who embody this spirit". There's Louise de Blegiers," with a modern intensity beneath her quiet poise; [plus] Zoé Adjani and Léa Rostain, actresses whose presence distills softness and edge. Parisian by birth or by affinity, these are not women who perform femininity — they reinvent it'.
