Looking for this Ambiguous Swift Messenger Bag

July 2, 2010 12:26 AM

Where can I find this "Ambiguous! Swift Messenger Bag" in the US?

A few years ago I bought this black messenger bag at a Marshall's for like 15 bucks. It's the best bag ever, but now I can't really find it, except for on that website, where it's really expensive and would probably cost a lot to ship, and that website seems like it may not be fully operational anymore, and even if it is I can't really navigate it because of my ignorance of the language it's in. I'm looking for a US store or online store that I can order it from. I fear that it's just not made anymore, and I just have to find one on ebay or just give up. Does anyone have any idea where I can get it? Has anyone seen these anywhere?

posted by DJ Broken Record to Shopping (6 answers total)

The website you saw is for a company called Dakorner, which is a Korean company distributing several different brands. Most textiles in Korea are very cheap; judging by the price of the bag and the difference with what you originally paid, it's almost certainly imported into Korea and reflects the ugly, ugly import tariffs-- so it's not a Korean company.

I ran a tineye search on the "Ambiguous" logo appearing on the Dakorner page; it gave me one hit for a Canadian company that appears to have sold Ambiguous products at one time but no longer does. That's a start in tracking them down.

I also ran a search for "Ambiguous" as a trade name on the USPTO office website; two categories appear relevant:

1. "T-shirts, shorts, sweatpants, warm-up pants, swimwear, pants, jackets, jeans, shirts, tank tops, sweaters, sweatshirts, tops, bottoms, headwear and footwear", belonging to Genius Earn Assets Management Limited LIMITED COMPANY BR.VIRGIN ISLANDS Offshore Incorporations Centre #957 Road Town, Tortola BR.VIRGIN ISLANDS

2. "men's and women's clothing for surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, namely, pants, jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, beanies, baseball caps, socks and boxer shorts", belonging to DISCRETE DISTRIBUTION, LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY CALIFORNIA 17161 GILLETTE IRVINE CALIFORNIA 92614.

Both listings have the same guy as "attorney of record" so it's almost certainly the same company. However, the first trademark is "live", but the second is listed as "dead".

Looking up "Discrete Distribution LLC" on California's Secretary of State business search page, you get a listing for a dead company.

I'm sorry to report that it looks like Ambiguous is out of business. But damned if I didn't try my best.
posted by holterbarbour at 1:11 AM on July 2, 2010 [9 favorites]

Whoops, gave the wrong ownership for the first product categories. Correct answer is: QUICKSWIFT LIMITED CORPORATION BR.VIRGIN ISLANDS Offshore Incorporations Centre Post Office Box 957 Road Town, Tortola BR.VIRGIN ISLANDS.
posted by holterbarbour at 1:22 AM on July 2, 2010

The logo matches, and it seems that Ambiguous Clothing has a web page. I went digging through the websites of some of the stores on their store list, but I couldn't find any that appear to sell messenger bags. Maybe this was a one-off design? You might want to check out local Ross outlets as the ones around me sell a lot of one-time things like this.
posted by fireoyster at 3:16 AM on July 2, 2010

The only messenger bag I could find on the Ambiguous Clothing site was this one. But maybe you could contact them and ask.
posted by amyms at 3:45 AM on July 2, 2010

That's interesting that Ambiguous has a website up... I'm guessing it's a reboot of the company. Discrete Distribution LLC registered as an entity in CA in 2000, but Life Distribution LLC (the current US distributor listed on ambiguousclothing.com's "contact us" page) only registered in 2008.
posted by holterbarbour at 6:35 AM on July 2, 2010

Response by poster: Looks like they just kinda gave up on the product. Maybe an employee will be willing to send me the ones they have stashed in their garage....
Thanks everyone. This website rules.
posted by DJ Broken Record at 10:39 AM on July 4, 2010