The Randoseru

In Japan, it is traditional to gift a child a Randoseru (ランドセル) bag when they start school. These structured back packs last for years and are a very usable design. Our J.Ward Randoseru was inspired by my travels to Japan, a country and culture I have always admired. When I saw a long line of school kids marching off to class one morning in Kyoto, I took notice of their backpacks. While there were a few different variants, they all shared this traditional structure, so I started sketching out my own design right away! When I returned to my studio in the US, I immediately started making my first for a good friend. After several iterations and thousands of test miles with my own, this design has become my go-to bag. The bag has been designed to be well balanced, remaining upright when you set it down

Crafted in the finest vegetable tanned leathers from Italy, lined in Italian linen, featuring YKK Excelsior zippers and solid brass. This leather is tanned to show off the natural surface character on the leather, not to appear perfect and manufactured. In our opinion, if you use beautiful leather that is organically tanned, this is value added. Too many modern leather goods use cheap processed leather that gets the grain stamped on the surface, what a shame! Over time, this honest leather will only become more beautiful and show more character.

On the exterior, you will find an easy access gusseted compartment on the front face which is perfectly sized for your phone, wallet, earbuds and more. On the backside, there is a full width reinforced sleeve which allows you to fit the bag upon your rolling suitcase handle. Inside, you will find a double ended zipper compartment towards the mouth of the bag for easy access, along with a lobster clasp brass clasp to help keep your keys for disappearing into the abyss of this bag and a hand made machined brass pen with its own sleeve. The zippered compartment is hung on brass studs and can be easily removed. The shoulder straps are removable and adjustable. The top handle is artfully crafted and dimensioned. Brass rivets are used in key areas for strength and longevity

Take a moment to appreciate the traditional burnished edges on this bag. Traditionally, this time-consuming process required specific skill, expertise, and patience. Nowadays most luxury brands have switched to a “painted edge” and worked hard to get consumers to believe it is a luxury finish. Truth be told, It is a synthetic material that saves them time and money but fails if you actually use the bag over time. A beautiful, burnished edge shows off the natural layers of the organic material and appears almost like wood. Easy to maintain, traditional and worth the effort. Our zipper pulls and enchapes (the small pieces of leather that attach the handles to the body of the bag) are dimensioned. Most modern brands skip this step. To create this effect, you fit another layer of leather that is smaller than the visible leather between the layers. Again, many companies use synthetics here to save some money (if they bother to add dimension at all). J.Ward uses real leather here, even though you will never see it. This detail also increases the strength and longevity of your bag.