I used to work on a model railroad magazine, so as you can imagine, my penchant for trains means that I’m quite taken by Ricoh’s snazzy ‘old’ camera straps, upscaled using seat fabric from Tokyo Metro cars. The very limited-edition Ricoh Tokyo x Pentax Camera Straps will be available to order from Friday, February 6, at 11:00am (presumably JST).
Sadly, the Ricoh Imaging Store is only able to deliver to Japanese addresses, and I can see these moving faster than a 'bullet train', considering only 300 will be available: 150 regular seats (red) and 150 priority seats (blue). Regardless, they are priced at ¥9,280, which is roughly $62/£49/$AU95.
Each strap is made from real seat fabric that once adorned Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line 02 series carriages, and is hand-sewn in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. What’s more, the straps also feature a Pentax tag, as well as a Tokyo Metro sleeve tag that is actually featured on Tokyo Metro uniforms.
In addition to the seat fabric, the lining is made from polyester, while the leather tabs at the ends of the strap are made from cowhide leather. Ricoh states that the straps are compatible with SLR cameras with strap rings of 10mm or wider. The main body of each strap (excluding the thin tips) is 810mm by 38mm.
It’s a shame these straps are only available domestically, or I would have snapped one up myself. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the New York Metro or London Underground can follow suit!
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