simple comfortable backpack
SICOBA is an original Japanese brand – and both new and traditional. Our backpacks are exclusively made in Japan. We use a vegan high-tech leather that is produced in Tokyo. And we know what we’re doing: our parent company SEIBAN has been making backpacks since 1919, and they’ve long since become part of Japanese pop culture.
SICOBA is not just some stylish new backpack from Japan – but of course it is also that! In terms of its design language and workmanship, SICOBA is a classic randoseru. Randoseru? Yes, THE cult backpack for elementary school kids and young-at-heart adults in Japan. But the randoseru is much more than just a popular school backpack. For the Japanese, it is the symbol of a carefree and traditional childhood. It has long since become an icon of Japanese pop culture. It appears in anime and television shows. And it has also been spotted on the back of Hollywood star Zooey Deschanel.
Every SICOBA backpack means traditional Japanese craftsmanship. And that takes time. It takes the most experienced sewers at the parent company SEIBAN 10 full working days to assemble the over 200 individual parts into an exclusive one-of-a-kind piece. First, they cut our vegan Clarino™ leather into matching individual pieces, carefully seal all the leather edges created in the cutting process, join the shaping components together, and finally sew the many individual elements into a backpack. In addition to special hand-operated machines, they rely on ancient sewing and folding techniques such as kikuyose.
SICOBA swears by the vegan Clarino™ leather from the Japanese microfiber specialists at Kuraray. And not just for animal welfare. Because Clarino™ is a high-end material that looks confusingly like natural leather and is superior in many properties. Clarino™ is water-repellent, breathable and scratch-resistant. Another advantage: it weighs much less. In addition, Kuraray uses Tirrenina™, the world’s first water-based microfiber produced without environmentally harmful additives and chemicals. Tirrenina™ can be finished using traditional leather tanning finishing methods.
© 2021 SICOBA
