Ports 1961 also known as Ports, is a fashion house originally founded by Canadian entrepreneur Luke Tanabe (1920–2009) in Toronto in 1961, specializing in luxury ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women.
Originally founded as Newport Canada in 1961 as an import business for clothing from Japan, the company evolved into a women's fashion business with Vancouver-born Tanabe as its designer and was renamed Ports International in 1966. The lat...
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Ports 1961 also known as Ports, is a fashion house originally founded by Canadian entrepreneur Luke Tanabe (1920–2009) in Toronto in 1961, specializing in luxury ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women.
Originally founded as Newport Canada in 1961 as an import business for clothing from Japan, the company evolved into a women's fashion business with Vancouver-born Tanabe as its designer and was renamed Ports International in 1966. The late 1970s saw the company's North American expansion and from 1983 on the opening of signature boutiques at international locations. In the mid-1980s, Tanabe created Tabi International, a Canadian store chain with more affordable clothing for women. Tanabe, whose parents had been Japanese immigrants to Canada, retired in 1989 and sold both Ports and Tabi to Toronto-based Etac Sales Ltd. and its owner, Canadian entrepreneur Alfred K.T. Chan (*1947). Tabi International was eventually liquidated in 2011 and the remaining 76 Tabi stores in Canada...
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