A box from Dan Matsuda showed up at the shop last week. Opening it felt less like receiving inventory and more like unwrapping a care package from a friend who happens to be one of the best softgoods designers working today.
Inside: sashi-ori pouches shaped like rice balls, indigo micro zips, laser-cut metal demons, a tiny soy-sauce fish, and the last Friday the 13th patch Dan will ever make. It's the biggest SAMPLE drop we've had in a while, so we're giving it the feature spot this month.
Heads up before you fall in love: SAMPLE is sold in our NYC shop and shipped to international customers only. If you're in the US, come see it in person. It's better that way anyway; you'll want to feel the weave.
Who is Dan Matsuda?
If you've carried a Triple Aught Design bag, there's a decent chance Dan had a hand in it. He spent 2006 to 2018 as a softgoods designer at TAD, and his Litespeed and EDC designs picked up Carry Awards along the way. He came up through graphic design first, then learned bags the hard way. In his words to Carryology: "I failed A LOT, but that learning experience was super valuable."
SAMPLE is what he makes on his own. It started as small-batch pouches for a fishing buddy and grew into a running series of numbered "Articles": pouches, slings, duffels, backpacks and some of the most sought-after patches in the carry world. Every piece gets an article number, and runs are small enough that they rarely last.
Dan grew up in a Japanese-Hawaiian family on the mainland, and that in-between feeling runs through his work. Oni and folklore sit next to astronauts and mecha. Japanese textiles meet Cordura and Tegris. We talked about all of it with him on The UrbanCred Podcast (S2E07), and he later designed the UrbanCred × SAMPLE patch with us.
Sashiko, sashi-ori and indigo
Sashiko means "little stabs." It's a Japanese running stitch that farmers and fishermen used to reinforce and patch work clothes, usually white thread on indigo cotton. Over generations, the repairs turned into patterns.
Sashi-ori is the woven version: the same stitched look, built into the fabric on the loom. It's what wraps Dan's new Omusubi pouches, and it gives them a texture you notice the second you pick one up.
The indigo pieces carry three classic patterns:
- Asanoha (hemp leaf): a six-point star grid. Hemp grows fast and straight, so the pattern stands for growth and protection.
- Seigaiha (blue ocean waves): overlapping arcs for calm seas and good fortune.
- Sakura (cherry blossom): the most Japanese flower there is, and a reminder that good things don't last. Neither will this drop.
Then Dan does what Dan does: he backs the old cloth with 1000D Cordura and EPX200, adds high-cycle loop and modern zippers, and builds it to be carried every day.
What's in the drop
The pouches
- Article 424 Omusubi, Sashi-ori Nori and Sashi-ori Ume ($65 Small, $75 Medium). A pouch shaped like an omusubi, the rice ball you grab at every konbini. Nori is the black wrap; Ume is the pickled plum in the middle. One top-access zipper, Cordura and EPX200 inside the sashi-ori shell. Small is 4 in square; Medium is 6 in.
- Article 480 Micro Zip, Indigo ($30, in Seigaiha, Asanoha or Sakura). A 3.25 x 4.25 in zip pouch on an aluminum swivel hook. Clip it to a bag or your keys for earbuds, cards or a spare key. The easiest way into SAMPLE.
The metal
- Article 296 Demon ($25, in Waves, Scales or Ocha Party). Laser-cut aluminum patches with woodblock-print demon art. The detail holds up close.
- Article 296 Flora Oni and Skull Mask ($25 each). Same format, different spirits.
- Article 344 Botan ($30, set of 2). A pair of 30 mm steel peony coins on hook backing.
- Article 439 Engimono ($60, set of 3). Daruma, maneki neko and tanuki, the three Japanese good-luck charms, in laser-cut steel.
The extras
- Article 230 F13 Final Edition ($17). Dan's Friday the 13th patch has run through several editions since the original Article 009. This glow-in-the-dark version closes the series for good.
- Shoyu-Tai ($12). A mini PVC patch shaped like the little fish-shaped soy sauce bottle from a bento box. Pure joy for twelve bucks.
- Box Cutter, Sashiko M81 ($28, Black or White). A 2-in-1 box cutter and scissors with a titanium blade, laser-engraved with Dan's Sashiko M81 pattern. For the person who opens a lot of gear boxes. (That's us.)
The big one
- Article 478SE, 18L, Indigo Asanoha ($450). A hand-built special edition backpack with sashi-ori on the front and zipper panels, removable Tegris panels, and a laptop sleeve that fits a 16 in MacBook Pro. We got exactly one, and it's already spoken for.
How to get it
Come by the shop. Everything above except the backpack is on the shelf in NYC now, in quantities of one to six. Dan makes these by hand in small batches, so don't wait too long.
Outside the US? The whole SAMPLE collection ships to you from our site.
And if you pick something up, tag it with #WhatsYourUrbanCred. We want to see where those demons end up.
