“The Origins of the Brand, and a Backpack.”

There is a reason I chose this backpack for my first post.

Back when I was still a company employee, I was frustrated that there were few backpacks out there that could be used seamlessly for everything from daily life to outdoor activities and travel.

At a time when starting my own brand hadn’t even crossed my mind, I began planning to make a backpack myself to resolve this frustration.

The Outdoors and Bags

At that time (about 15 years ago), especially in the outdoor world, it was normal to own several bags for different activities and purposes: 40L for a trip of this length, 25L for that kind of outing, and so on.

The outdoor mindset of assembling the best gear for each purpose resonated with me back then too, and it was part of the fun.

But even though I understood that this was the ideal solution, I had no money at the time, so getting by on ideas was simply the norm.

Using one backpack as a base, when my gear didn’t fit I would tie other bags onto it or attach them externally to make it all carryable somehow, and I traveled to many places that way.

I remember gradually feeling my own style take shape — this way is more convenient, that way is more efficient — and how I used things and why became clearer.

The ARC’TERYX Arro 22

At the time, the backpack I mainly used, including in daily life, was the ARC’TERYX Arro 22.

It remains a highly popular classic daypack today.

A certain feature of this bag became the starting point for the idea of “Outside”.

The bottom of the Arro 22 is cut away so much that the bag cannot stand on its own.
There is a reason for this: it keeps the load’s center of gravity from being pulled backward when climbing (especially on ascents).

If you don’t need this function, that space becomes dead space.

I tied a waist bag from another brand into that space and used it to expand capacity when needed.

“Outside” is the design I created to optimize this form.

Addition and Subtraction

Especially for people involved in design, “additive design” and “subtractive design” are familiar terms.

I believe this concept of addition and subtraction also exists beyond design, in the way we think.

The same goes for this bag. Many people would see the act of attaching things to the outside of a backpack as addition.

For me, though, this whole way of thinking leads to subtraction.

That one backpack you love can handle many situations, and that you don’t need to buy other bags — seen from a broader perspective, I consider this subtraction.

In this way, rather than looking at a product on its own, the greatest reward for a maker is when the product design fits with a person’s lifestyle, values and way of living.

As for why I chose this bag for my very first article: when I saw the finished bag, it gave me the confidence that it could stand as a brand, and that led me to launch the brand. It is a product full of memories.


It took three years for this backpack to go from concept to completion.

I remade the patterns many times, made fine adjustments again and again, and paid close attention to everything from carrying comfort to the smallest parts.

The patterns in particular are where we differ greatly from other bag brands.

Normally, bags have craftspeople who specialize in making bag patterns.

Skilled craftspeople work with high precision and can make better patterns, but they also carry many fixed ideas about “what a bag should be”.

That often became a bottleneck, making it difficult to shape the form or to build in functions no one had seen before.

At meanswhile, we ask clothing pattern makers to make our bag patterns as well.

It is the result of choosing the way that takes more time but makes something better, in order to balance practicality with the beauty of form as fashion.

Finding a sewing factory was also a struggle.

The construction was complex, and I went many times to explain it to craftspeople who couldn’t understand the sewing process.
Because only a few people could make it, production was unstable, and there were times when delivery delays caused trouble for our retail partners.

Then I met a certain factory, and today we entrust all of meanswhile’s bags to them.

They are a trustworthy factory that mainly makes outdoor packs and also manufactures bags supplied to the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

Beyond their high level of skill, they taught me about how bags are constructed, which I feel has helped me grow as well.

After that, as I used it myself over several years, the list of things I wanted to update grew, so we stopped selling it in order to make revisions.

With the factory’s cooperation, and another three years, we again completed something I was satisfied with, and were able to bring it back from the 24SS season as a minor update.

I was glad that, despite a three-year gap, many people had waited for it, and the planned quantity sold out right away.

Hearing how happy those who had waited were was a great source of motivation.

A small additional production run, arranged at short notice, is coming in.

This time I intended to convey the background of the product, so I won’t write a product description.

Going into how to use it and the details would make this very long, so I will write about that on another occasion.

If this has sparked even a little interest, I would be glad if you took a look at the product page.

ULTRAWEAVE™ “OUTSIDE”
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