Francesco Bertolini - Designer, Creative Director of Ports 1961

[vogue28]

 

[tourbillions]

another grindr profile hired in fashion 😅 lets see what he can do

 

[TomBlanksFullFatMiuMiu]

Karl Templer was the only interesting thing about this brand in the past decade
They only have 132K followers...

 

[rowjellies]

Can someone please explain or give a TLDR are what exactly is 'Ports 1961' and how they've been around so long? Is it like a revived name like Carven? Is it a big business in Asia or something?

 

[youthinasia]

What's his Grindr profile, oops, I mean resume?

 

[Kimihiro]

Can someone please explain or give a TLDR are what exactly is 'Ports 1961' and how they've been around so long? Is it like a revived name like Carven? Is it a big business in Asia or something?

I think I saw a huge store in Shanghai. I remember seeing a small one in some southeast asian city so maybe they’re an Asia thing.

 

[LadyJunon]

Can someone please explain or give a TLDR are what exactly is 'Ports 1961' and how they've been around so long? Is it like a revived name like Carven? Is it a big business in Asia or something?

The brand was founded by Luke Tanabe in 1961 as "Newport Canada" an import business for Japanese clothing. In 1966, they rebranded as "Ports International" and started designing their own clothing and in the 70s, the brand expanded across the Anglosphere.

In the 80s, they went through a messy period of back-to-back personnel changes (including the appointement of Dean and Dan Caten) and the founder retired, selling Ports to Etac Sales Ltd., which went bankrupt in 1994. One of ESL's owners, Alfred Chan acquired rights to Ports and started to shift the brand towards the Chinese market.

In 2004, with the goal of reintroducing their brand to Western markets, they launched Ports 1961, a New York based runway line. Today, the brand has stores in Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

 

[rowjellies]

I found a good explanation online from Elena Kirioukhina: 🙏

“Ports 1961 started its rebranding in the 2000s by creating an affordable "Prada." It was probably a good idea, giving customers who couldn't afford the original a great way to dress in this specific aesthetic. I thought it was interesting (I wanted the Prada look to be approachable).
Currently, the brand is fully focused on China, where the majority of its business comes from. The style is "housewife who can't afford CHANEL and Loro Piana."

 

[Lola701]

Never really understood the brand even though I think the Templer/Baron/Meisel team was great. I think they have a store at Saint Honore but I never went.
Is this hiring that important? I think the TBM team was the perfect one for world domination but who knows…