Ports International
Ports 1961, also known as Ports, is a Canadian luxury fashion house that was founded by Canadian fashion designer Luke Tanabe (1920–2009) in Toronto in 1961. It specializes in luxury ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women.[1]
History
The company was founded as Newport Canada in 1961 as an import business for clothing from Japan. It evolved into a women's fashion business with Vancouver-born Tanabe as its designer and was renamed Ports International in 1966. In the late 1970s, the company expanded in North America. In 1983 it began opening signature boutiques in international locations.
In the mid-1980s, Tanabe created Tabi International, a Canadian store chain with more affordable clothing for women. Tanabe, whose parents had been Japanese immigrants to Canada, retired in 1989 and sold Ports and Tabi to Toronto-based Etac Sales Ltd. and its owner, Canadian entrepreneur Alfred K.T. Chan (*1947).[2] Tabi International was liquidated in 2011 and the remaining 76 Tabi stores in Canada were closed.[3] Etac filed for bankruptcy in 1994.
For the Chinese market, Ports Design Ltd. was created by Chan with his wife Fiona Cibani in Xiamen in 1994 and listed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (0589.HK) in 2003.[4] Ports Design Ltd., as of 2011, operated more than 360 Ports stores in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, selling classic style clothing designed by Fiona Cibani and manufactured in company-owned factories in Xiamen.
In 2004, Chan re-launched the company in North America as New York City-based Ports 1961 with designer Tia Cibani (*1973), Fiona's younger sister. As of 2011, Ports 1961 operated stores in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, West Hollywood, Manhattan, Paris, London (shop-in-shop) and mainland China. Ports 1961 launched a fashion-forward menswear collection for the first time in 2011 with designers Fiona Cibani, who took over for her sister in 2010, and Ian Hylton. Classic menswear collections from Ports had been available before.
Timeline
- 1970 : Ports open a flagship store in Manhattan; followed by stores in Copley Place, Boston and Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California.
- 1978 : Ports opened flagship in London – 78 Bond Street.
- 1979 : Boutique opening in Rose Crescent, Cambridge & Bath – U.K.
- 1980 : Christine and Miki Tanabe are appointed as Designers for the fashion house.
- 1988 : Dean and Dan Caten are appointed Co-Designers of PORTS.
- 1992 : Tia and Fiona Cibani are appointed as Creative Directors and Chief Designers of the Fashion house.
- 2001 : Fashion show and PORTS 40th anniversary celebration of at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des beaux-Arts de Montreal).
- 2006 : Ports 1961 collection featured in the box office hit movie The Devil Wears Prada.
- 2007 : Ports 1961 “wood clutch” showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art and Launch of the Jet Set Kit.
- 2008 : Ports 1961 collection featured in the box office hit movie Sex in the City.
- 2011: Menswear line from PORTS 1961 and flagship store opening in Paris
References
- ↑ Founder of Ports International made things happen, The Globe and Mail, 8 January 2010
- ↑ Upstart Seeks to Create A Chinese Fashion Power, wsj.com, 27 September 2007
- ↑ Tabi International closing remaining stores, cbc.ca, 5 April 2011
- ↑ Sister Act, time.com, 11 September 2006
Further reading
- Savigny Newsletter – Issue 10, October 2009
- Globe and Mail - Nov 2009 "Founder of Ports International, Luke Tanabe, stayed true to his vision"