Although the official inventor of the term 'Portablism' is not clear, it is a culture that has been developing organically even as early as 2003, with a noticeable steep progression since 2015. Historically speaking, it could be argued that Vestax and DJ Qbert/Thud Rumble are the original pioneers of this new sub-culture with their collaborative and ambitious portable turntable instrument, the QFO. Although it was a breakthrough in many ways by including an internal battery and further professional features, the QFO wasn't easily accessible for the mass market due to its limited availability and cost. Furthermore, it wasn't truly a portable solution as the device itself is not light and still requires an external speaker.

Further official and make-shift attempts of taking Turntablism into new portable realms began emerging, including wearable guitar-shaped and even a djembe-shaped turntable instrument. However, they mostly failed to gain widespread traction and thus remained in a prototype stage. On the plus side, this experimental spirit sparked a new era of DIY products and cottage industries outside of the major manufacturing forces.

In the 10 years that followed, there were few notable developments until the introduction of portable crossfaders designed for use with smart devices and the type of portable turntables originally intended for record diggers and collectors to listen to vinyl on the go. Noticing a trend, other companies came on board with further mobile crossfader models. It became common to see these paired by cable, adhesives or even wirelessly with such portable turntables, DJ apps and additional portable speakers, which gave rise to a demand for 7'' scratch records.

Since the total number of releases and sales of records has increased considerably over the last years, portable vinyl listening pleasure is once again playing a greater role too.

Portablism is a breath of fresh air in the DJ scene, as the technology and movement still has a lot of room for growth. Uniquely, it is mostly the practitioners themselves who are in the driving seat of its development. The scene is driven by the aspect of modding, which leads to a 'DIY' culture that offers sheer endless possibilities of customization to the users.

Its technological advancements are happening frequently by the hand of small and independent product developers, many of whom are also the practitioners and hobbyists of the craft itself. As it's still a young movement, specific products for Portablism are still growing. The modular approach leads to a lot of niche products that aim to fulfil a specific purpose on a portable turntable in the best way possible.

DJs and turntablists jamming together isn't necessarily new but now thanks to the rise of Portablism, its "scratch anywhere" culture is encouraging even more connections, more dialogue, and more collaborations between like-minded individuals. At the forefront, fellow enthusiasts often arrange informal gatherings to scratch together, and others are taking advantage of the freedom to capture Portablism content in all manner of different locations. Meanwhile, those with the know-how are busy developing and engineering the tools and products that the scene demands. It's very much a DIY community growing fast due to active members taking the responsibility in their own hands to advance the culture.

Portablist Lounge is a community for international scratch portablists, organising battles and meet-ups. Judges and competitors from all over the world gather for the ultimate prize in Portablism. Since 2019, Reloop have teamed up with Portablist Lounge and supports the event by equipping all contests with the Reloop SPIN portable turntable system.