WTAPS Leather Crepe Loafer

Released in both brown and black, here is a look at this hugely impressive Leather Crepe Loafer from cult Japanese label WTAPS. Part of a more punk, British hooligan inspired collection these shoes fit in well with the entire line with a premium leather upper on a crepe sole which make for a nice contrast.

Interview Magazine: Hiroshi Fujiwara by Fraser Cooke

Arguably one of the most influential characters in the whole global streetwear phenomenon, the so-called “Godfather of Harajuku” Hiroshi Fujiwara is the subject of an Interview Magazine. The interview conducted by another notable individual in Nike’s Fraser Cooke delves extensively into HF’s little known past which includes his time traveling, his inclusion in the International Stüssy Tribe and the start of his first label, Goodenough in 1989. Part of the interview can be found below.

Let’s begin by going back to the past for a minute to get some historical context. Many people might call you the Godfather of Harajuku—the guy who helped popularize hip-hop and DJ culture here in Japan back in the day.

When I was 18 years old, I came to Tokyo from my hometown, Ise, in the countryside. I’d always been really inspired by fashion and music, especially when punk came out in ’76 or ’77. So I guess I arrived in Tokyo in around ’81. Around that time, I visited London for about two months—it was the period just before Malcolm McLaren released his solo album Duck Rock [1983]. I’d met him when he came to Japan, so I visited him in London and spent one evening with him and his girlfriend over at his house. He told me, “London is boring right now. You should go to New York.” So he called a friend in New York, who I think was an old assistant or someone who helped him record early hip-hop stuff over there. I said okay and flew to New York. Once I got there, I saw those hip-hop things going on. The Roxy was really happening—Afrika Islam, Kool Lady Blue, that whole scene. I really got interested in the DJ side. I mean, I guess I was some kind of DJ in Japan already, but the hip-hop scene was naturally happening, and I picked up on that style, then brought back the information on records and technique to Tokyo.

Malcolm McLaren told you that London was boring. But, as someone coming from Japan, did you actually think that London was boring?

No. It was really interesting, but it was very slow. Everything closed on Saturday and Sunday. The stores closed at 6 p.m., and if you missed, even by a few minutes, they wouldn’t let you in. Even if you knew exactly what you wanted, they’d say, “No, no, come back tomorrow.”

You stayed with some pretty interesting people in London.

Yes. I was 18 years old, first time in -London, and I was introduced by a friend from Japan called Hitomi [Okawa], who is behind the label Milk, to a group of people that included [director] John Maybury, Stephen Jones, [designer] David Holah, and Boy George. They were all pretty young. Culture Club was just beginning. Marilyn [the New Romantic pop singer] and Jeremy Healy from the band Haysi Fantayzee were there. Many people were sharing one apartment with many rooms. So I was in that community.

I guess it’s fair to say that before Stüssy, streetwear was more about mixing and matching. It was about self-styling. But Stüssy managed to pull a lot of elements together and mix them up with fashion, art, and music references, etc. It was the first time that it was all presented as a package. You went on to do something similar yourself in Japan with -Goodenough.

Goodenough was definitely inspired by Stüssy, as well as the label Anarchic Adjustment from England. Shawn came from surf culture, and Nick [Philip], who founded Anarchic Adjustment, I think came from a BMX background. But I actually came from the fashion side, so maybe I knew more about fashion—and music like hip-hop because I was a DJ—so it was really successful when we mixed it all up together.

The success of Goodenough began to raise your profile in Japanese magazines. How did that happen?

In those days, people were really hungry for information—and, somehow, I had pretty good access because I had friends in London, New York, Los Angeles, everywhere. I’d been visiting many places and talking with people, so I had a constant flow of new info. I sometimes did articles for magazines and things, and people started to say, “If you want to know what’s going on, ask Hiroshi.” So that was the beginning with Goodenough. During that time, Nigo was kind of my assistant for both deejaying and styling because he has a good sense with clothing. Also around me were Jonio [Jun Takahashi], who was starting Undercover, and Shinsuke Takizawa of Neighborhood, who was a student. I put Shinsuke to work with File Records, which handled the Major Force label, since they needed staff to work and to create merchandise. So we began to connect a few things.

How do you feel about the success and rise in influence of some of your other friends and colleagues—Jun and Nigo, for example—who have achieved a certain level of recognition outside of Japan?

I think it’s amazing. I don’t feel like that kind of thing would ever happen to me, as I’m not like those kinds of designers—I don’t want to express myself in such a categorized way. I kind of want to be in the middle of the majority and the minority. I don’t really want people to know what I am.

What’s the state of the Harajuku scene right now? Do you think the people and brands we’ve been talking about are the end product of the cycle that produced them, but the scene itself is kind of over?

It’s not really finished. It just became too big—you can’t really say those are small, independent companies anymore. There should be something smaller happening, although I can’t really say I’ve found it, which doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. If there’s a really good thing going on now and I don’t know about it, I think that’s kind of right. If I know what’s going on, then it’s not truly new, if you know what I mean. When we started Nowhere, maybe the fashion industry recognized something was happening, but they just thought, Oh, those kids . . . whatever. They didn’t know what was actually going on with us. Now we are those people in a sense—the current establishment. So I hope there’s something happening that is new and independent that we know nothing about. Maybe it’s even being done by people who see our generation as an enemy. That can create energy as well.

New York, London, and Tokyo have provided you with inspiration for the past 20 or 30 years. But how do you feel now about the energy of those cities? How do you feel about the scene?

It has become really boring. I mean, 30 years ago, London was really happening—there was swinging London and then punk. It was really different from other cities, and so I’d always wanted to go there and see what was actually going on. After that, hip-hop was the next thing happening, so to get the records or the proper clothing, you really had to actually go to New York. But now you don’t really need to go. For example, if I see a nice photography book in New York, and I don’t want to have to carry that back to Japan with me, I just order it from Amazon when I come home. There’s no treasure-hunting anymore. It used to be like a hunt to find Air Jordans, Max 95s, and carrying them back.

At the end of last year you did this book, Personal Effects, which is a selection of 100 diverse personal items that you feel are interesting. I actually helped clean up the English on it. But how did that happen?

A few magazine publishers were interested in me doing a book, but one in particular called Magazine House, who do Brutus and Popeye [Japanese magazines]—you know those Japanese fashion-book specialists—asked me to do a version of a book that already exists, which was originally done by a stylist called Sonya Park. She has a book where she selected 101 items, which is really beautiful, and they wanted me to do something similar. I really liked her book, which was all stuff you can buy, like a catalog or shopping-manual kind of thing. But mine’s more about things that are hard to find—or alternatively, easy to get. It’s just things that belong to me or that I’m interested in. I’m also planning to do a new concept book for sneakers, which will be kind of like an encyclopedia or a sneaker history. It’ll be like those kids’ books that show a picture or a drawing of an insect or a dinosaur with an explanation next to it.

You’ve also got Honeyee.com, which you started in 2005 and which has since spawned a number of sort of copycat sites. How did that come about?

Well, we weren’t the first to do the website type of thing, but I guess we were waiting for the right timing. Me and Hirofumi from SOPH. and Hiroki from Visvim were meeting every month and kept saying maybe it’s time to do a website. There were some other fashion sites in Japan that were selling stuff, but we didn’t really get involved with them. It’s not that I didn’t like the other sites, but we felt that perhaps those shopping websites might kill the local stores. So we decided to do our thing. I guess I came up with the name. All of our initials begin with H—Hiroki, Hirofumi, and Hiroshi—and Honeyee.com sounds like “honeycomb” with many sections. It also sounds like the Japanese word that means “to hesitate,” so there were many meanings. And the “.com” at the end can sound like come, like, “Honey, come. Come to honey…”

What’s next for Hiroshi, then?

There are a few projects I’ve been working on but can’t really tell you what they are. I still feel like I’m really into fashion. I even think sneakers are a fashion item as well. I’m still into sneakers and clothes. Even though I don’t wear or buy those things, I find that I’m still like looking for them—like newer things like Cassette Playa [Carri Munden’s British streetwear label] or those kinds of things. I can’t wear it, but I still think it’s interesting when I see it.

Interview with Shinsuke Takizawa of NEIGHBORHOOD in iD Magazine

Недавно сотрудник журнала iD встретился с Shinsuke Takizawa, более известным как Shin из Neighborhood. Они говорили о работе с Major Force, совместном турне с Public Enemy и истории Neighborhood. Кроме того, конечно же коснулись тем о философии в одежде, любви к британской панк культуре и мотоциклам. Поэтому не упустите случай чтобы лучше понять человека, который стоит за созданием наиболее уважаемого японского бренда уличной одежды.

Расчистка места

Мое первое знакомство с модой было связано с тем временем, когда я стал активно интересоваться музыкой, т.е. как раз в мои студенческие годы. Лондон тогда был для меня всем. Меня интересовала панк музыка и сопровождающий ее стиль в одежде. Сразу после окончания школы я решил поступить в Токийскую Школу Моды, которую я вообще то закончил спустя 4 месяца после поступления, потому что меня оттуда выгнали за непосещаемость. Забавно слышать, когда сейчас эта школа использует мое имя как пример успешного студента, чтобы привлечь новых абитуриентов.
Британский панк повлиял на меня в наибольшей степени. Люди находят странным, что я никогда по настоящему не интересовался американской модой, хотя считают, что мой бренд как раз подвергся именно ее влиянию. В Токио на протяжении 80-х мода была завязана на Британии, Лондоне и таких дизайнерах как John Galliano и Vivienne Westwood, если быть точным. Волна из США пришла намного позднее.

Я мечтал одеваться так же как ребята, что тусовались в лондонских клубах. Я рассматривал журналы, заполненные этими панк фотографиями по несколько часов к ряду. И до сих пор слежу за тем, что происходит в Лондоне в сфере моды. Мне было 19, и аккурат после того, как меня выгнали из института, я впервые посетил Париж и Лондон. Путешествовал без каких либо планов и графиков. Перед этим Wild Bunch приезжал в Токио со своим первым туром по Японии вместе с поп-дуэтом Morgan & McVey. Я встретил Nellee Hooper в одном из клубов, поэтому когда прибыл в Лондон, я остановился на пару недель в его квартире. В то время мои панк дни были закончены, я попал в новую волну. Все время я проводил в клубах. Nellee провел меня по многим интересным местам, в том числе Africa Centre и, кроме того, представил меня Soul II Soul. Это было для меня совершенно ново, и я, наверное, до конца не понимал, что происходило вокруг, но впечатления переполняли мой разум — все это было настоящим потрясением. Я не могу объяснить что это было, но мне кажется, что именно этот опыт стал причиной моей «зависимости» от британской моды.

Подготовка почвы

После возвращения из Лондона я начал работать стилистом на непостоянной основе. Это было не слишком серьезно, я просто тусовался по разным вечеринкам и получал от этого удовольствие. В то время через своего друга я познакомился с Hiroshi Fujiwara. Hiroshi уже был своеобразной иконой андеграунда, тогда он все время твердил мне, что мне нужна нормальная работа вместо того, чтобы просто тусоваться в клубах. Он представил меня File records, которые были дистрибьюторами его лэйбла Major Force, первого японского хип-хоп лейбла. Это были одни из лучших лет моей жизни. Клубная культура в это время только пробивалась на японскую сцену и была отличной площадкой для установления связей. Студенты и известные дизайнеры встречались в клубах и ты мог чувствовать, что происходило что-то реально крупное. Именно благодаря клубной сцене я встретился с огромным числом разных людей. Я много веселился, но и усердно работал в то время.



Работать на Major Force было весело, даже если учесть, что я по настоящему так и не привязался к хип-хопу. До этого времени я рассмативал фотографии американских байкеров из 60х и был ими очарован. У меня даже был друг, живший рядом с Американской базой. Это был район где можно снять дом в американском стиле по приемлимой цене, район стал популярным местом в среде молодых артистов и студентов. Он был типичным байкером и даже ставил свой мотоцикл посреди гостиной. Это как раз совпало со временем бума американской моды, поэтому мне было очень интересно. Я работал на Major Force и был единственным, кто носил мотоциклетные ботинки и длинные волосы. Во время тура Public Enemy по Японии Flavor Flav постоянно трепал мою прическу и кричал «Что за хрень творится с твоими волосами?». В итоге я получил свой первый Harley-Davidson когда мне было 21 или 22 года. Это был Shovel Head FLH, стоил он около 8 тысяч долларов и мне пришлось брать ссуду, которую я погасил только за 48 взносов. С тех пор начался процесс доработок, который нельзя завершить. А так как у меня никогда не хватало денег, то многое приходилось делать своими руками.



Посадка семян

Меня в свое время очень впечатлил фильм «Беспечный ездок» (Easy Rider), не просто тема мотоциклов, а вся эта история вцелом, которая просто пропитана духом Америки. Меня также вдохновляли Ангелы Ада (объединение байкеров США Hells Angels, которое было описано в одноименном романе Хантера С. Томпсона) и японская легенда ювелир Горо (Goro), уроженец США. Он годами работал в своем собственном магазине в районе Хараджуку и постоянно колесил по окрестностям на своем Harley-Davidson, без шлема и с псом, который сидел на бензобаке. Я думаю, что это было очень круто, и это помогло мне понять, что такое этот самый Harley.



Я проработал в Major Force 7 лет. В это время я разбирался с тем, что представляет из себя общество. Т.к. мы были небольшим лейблом, то все приходилось делать самостоятельно, графику, промо-акции, упаковку, рекламу и т.д. Все это стало полезным опытом, благодря которому я получил представление о полном цикле производства продукта. В то же время я впервые опробовал Mac. Я помню он был маленьким, с крошечным экраном. Мне нужно было разобраться как это работает, т.к. я руководил всеми дизайнерскими работами на лэйбле. Как раз тогда в Major Force я взял на себя ответственность за производство футболок и толстовок. Это был мой первые опыт работы в дизайне одежды, и как ни странно она хорошо продавалась. Это заставило меня задуматься о бизнесе в сфере моды. Поэтому следующим шагом стало открытие своего собственного магазина. Я занял денег и открыл свой первый «Neighborhood». В последующий год я по прежнему трудился на лэйбле дизайнером, но все мои мысли были о том, чтобы заниматься тем, что мне нравится, поэтому вскоре я уволился и полностью сфокусировался на «Neighborhood».



Первые побеги

Все мои друзья находились по соседству с округом Хараюку, и обычно там же и проводили время, поэтому у меня и появилась идея назвать свой бренд, основываясь на этом. (Neigborhood, англ., — соседство, близость, окрестность). По началу наш бизнес был основан на продажах импортной одежды из магазинов США. Как я, так и TET — мой партнер и дизайнер WTAPS, были абсолютными новичками в закупках, поэтому ничего не планировалось и было приятно безответственным. Я помню, мы смотрели на карту Америки и нашли город под названием Буффало. Мы сказали друг другу «Смотри! Звучит просто отлично, может там мы найдем что-нибудь стоящее, между ним и Нью-Йрком!» Мы просто ехали по дороге между городами, останавливаясь у крупных торговых центров. Мы купили немного верхней вязаной одежды, а также других продуктов, которые плохо продавались. Кроме того приобрели много рубашек Ralph Lauren, они были достаточно популярны и их было сложно достать, но в итоге и они продавались так же паршиво, как и остальное. Про себя мы думали: «Дерьмо! Придется что-то срочно придумать, чтобы от этого избавиться!» В итоге мы решили сделать на них несколько своих принтов, и это сработало. Это заставило нас подумать о производстве своей собственной одежды.



Цветы

Моей основной идеей было производство одежды в мотоциклетном стиле. На меня повлияли образы типичных байкеров, с бородами, длинными волосами и футболками с изображениями орлов, но тогда я уже думал о своем собственном стиле, джинсах и белых рубашках, я всегда хотел отличаться от кого бы то ни было. Это было время, когда ты мог экспериментировать и делать то, что хочешь. Моему бренду уже более 15 лет, и этот период можно разделить на 2 части. Первый период был беззаботным. Я абсолютно не парился ни о чем, я просто делал что хотел, но потом я начал задумываться непосредсвенно о бизнесе, особенно это касается вопроса экономии. Когда мы запустили бренд, у нас не было даже офиса. Но это было не важно. У нас была свобода, все что мы делали продавалось немедленно. Все товары продавались так быстро, что мы никогда не нуждались в сток-центрах.

Мы совершенно отличались от других брендов, и я надеюсь выглядели более свежо для всех. Тогда по сути было мало выбора, поэтому это тоже одна из причин того, что мы стали столь успешны, и почему люди хотели чего-то нового. Мы никогда не были большой компанией, но в течение этих лет медленно разрастались. Когда находишься в бизнесе так долго как мы, взгляд со временем замыливается и свежесть и новизна уходит, поэтому мы постоянно боролись, чтобы установить и поддерживать нашу индивидуальность. Наша идентичность базируется на уличной культуре, поэтому мы являемся аутсайдерами в индустрии моды в Японии. Тот путь, что мы начали и которого придерживаемся, индустрия попросту игнорировала. Мы никогда не делаем этих обычных модных показов, и являемся очень независимым бизнесом. Я полностью понимаю выгоду показа коллекций и есть бренды, которые этим занимаются и которым я симпатизирую, но я также верю что должны быть бренды, идущие в другом направлении, к ним как раз и относится Neighborhood.



Вода и свет для роста

Мы создали свою первую модель — винтажную куртку в 1995 году. Когда я смотрю на нее сейчас, мне кажется что она ужасного качества и слишком грубая, но даже в ней вы можете уловить нашу философию. Я считаю, что едва примерив вещь, ты должен получить от нее эмоции, в этом и состоит моя философия. Это отличается от того, что делают другие бренды, и я горжусь этим. Мне нравится старая (винтажная) одежда, но идея того, что никто кроме ее владельца не может ее носить немного разачаровывает. Основываясь на этом, я хотел сделать товар с эффектом старения. Мы не были первым брендом, который начал использовтаь эти техники, но мы были определенно одними из первых. Тогда ни одна из фабрик не знала как нужно делать. Мы учились в процессе. Я разрабатывал дизайн на своем Mac все эти 15 лет. И я надеюсь, что по-прежнему буду этим заниматься. Я отвечаю как за дизайн, так и за управление самой компанией. Я пытался остановится только на управлении, но вскоре у меня пропало все желание этим заниматься, потому что мне было ужасно скучно.



Прекрасный сад

В прошлом году мы начали выпуск новой линии под названием «Luker by Neighborhood», я продолжаю разработку дизайна. То что мы делали и продлжаем делать, уже заняло свою нишу на рынке, но у нас еще есть куда расти. Мы уже создали образ своего бренда и как ни странно это тоже может стать проблемой, потому что восприятие в Хараюку слишком предвзятое, чтобы судить адекватно. Возможность демонстрировтаь наш продукт все еще немного ограничена. Мы уверены в качестве, и если бы у нас был шанс, мы бы показали это более широкой части рынка — такой возможностью для нас стал «Luker». Конечно же есть некоторые технические сложности, связанные со складами и торговлей. Для нас это как вызов так и хорошая возможность показать продукт, который был разработан в Neighborhood, но с отличиями в темах и местоположении. Это может привлечь к нам новых покупателей, которые ничего не знают о нашем главном бренде Neighborhood, который в свою очередь продолжит свое давно начатое дело. Нашу одежду можно надеть спустя несколько лет после покупки, и вы будете чувствовать себя комфортно. Наши продукты очень просты, но в этом и кроется весь смысл, с каждым сезоном мы просто добавляем новые детали и переосмысливаем наши основные идеи. В этом и есть весь Neighborhood.

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Remove Debris

“My first exposure to fashion was around the time I started getting interested in music whilst I was still a student. London was everything for me back then. It was about the punk music and the fashion coming out of there. So I decided to go to a fashion school in Tokyo after I graduated from high school – which I actually ended up getting kicked out of four months after I started as I didn’t really attend any of the classes. It’s funny to hear that now the school uses my name as an example of a successful graduate to recruit new students!

British Punk was my biggest influence. People find it strange that I wasn’t really interested in American fashion back then because a lot of people think my brand is heavily American influenced. In Tokyo during the 80s, fashion was all about British fashion – London and designers like John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood, to be specific. The influence of American fashion came much later. I used to dream of dressing like the kids hanging out in London clubs who I saw in magazines. I used to look through those magazines that were filled with photos of punk kids for hours on end. I’m still really interested in what’s going on style-wise in London now. When I was 19, right after I got kicked out of school, I visited Paris and London for the first time. I was pretty much backpacking around with no plans or schedule. Prior to that the, Wild Bunch came to Tokyo for their first Japan tour with Morgan & McVey, [pop duo composed of Jamie Morgan and Cameron McVey, who had been integral and influential within the Buffalo movement] and I met Nellee Hooper briefly at one of the clubs, so when I got to London I contacted him and stayed at his flat for a couple of weeks. Around that time, my punk days were over; I was into new wave and rare groove and was hanging out at clubs all the time. Nellee took me around places like the Africa Centre and introduced me to Soul II Soul among others. It was all completely new to me and I probably didn’t fully understand what it was all about, but the experience blew my mind and had such a huge impact on me. I can’t explain what it was but I guess that whole experience is why I am still hooked on British fashion.”

Loosen Soil

“I started working as a freelance stylist after I returned from London. It wasn’t too serious – I was just hanging out all the time and having fun. Then I came to know Hiroshi Fujiwara through a friend of mine who lived in the same apartment back then. Hiroshi was already kind of an underground hero and was always telling me to get a proper job since I was just hanging around all the time. He introduced me to File records, who were the distributors of his label, Major Force, the first Japanese Hip-Hop label. Those were some of the best days of my life. Club culture was only just hitting the Japanese scene and it became a real platform for communication. Students and famous designers would meet at the clubs and you could feel something big was happening. I met so many people through the club scene. I was playing and working hard at the same time.

It was fun working at major Force, even though Hip-Hop was never really my thing. Before joining Major Force I was always watching American biker flicks from the 60s and was completely fascinated with them. I also had a friend who lived near an American base. It was a district where you could rent American style homes at an affordable price and it became a popular neighborhood for young artists and students. He was your stereotypical biker and even parked his chopper in his living room! It was also the start of the American fashion boom so I was interested in the fashion coming out of the States. I was at Major Force and I was the only guy wearing motorcycle boots with long hair. When I hung out on the Public Enemy Japan Tour, Flavor Flav was always pulling my hair and shouting, ‘What the fuck up is up with your hair?’. I finally got my first Harley Davidson when I was 21 or 22. I was only able to get it through a loan of 48 installments! It was a Shovel Head FLH and was around $8,000. It was also the start of a never-ending customization process. I didn’t have much money then so I had to do everything myself, and a lot of the parts I picked up from Home Depot.”

Plant Your Seeds

“I was heavily influenced by the film Easy Rider. It wasn’t just the motorcycles but the whole story, which had a very American feeling about it. Of course the Hells Angels and the Japanese legendary Native American jeweler, Goro, also inspired me. He has been working out of his own store ‘Goro’s’ in Harajuku for years and used to always ride around the neighborhood on his Harley with no helmet and his dog sitting on the fuel tank – I thought that was so cool and made me realize what a special vehicle the Harley is.

I ended up working at Major Force for seven years. It was there that I learned what society was all about. It was such a tiny label that we had to do everything on our own, from graphics to sales, promotion as well as the packaging and mailing out, etc. – all of which were useful experiences for me later on in terms of the whole process of manufacturing a product. This was also the first time I touched a Mac. I remember it was such a small little Mac with a tiny screen! I needed to learn how to use it as I was handling the whole design side of the label. It was around that time that I was given the opportunity of working on Major Force’s merchandise – making t-shirts and hoodies. Those were the first pieces of clothing that I ever designed and it all sold pretty well. That made me start thinking about the whole clothing business. So, the next obvious move was to start my own store. I borrowed money and opened the first “Neighborhood”. After about a year I was still doing graphics for the label but in the end I only wanted to do the things I liked so I became independent and focused on Neighborhood.”

Let Your Roots Grow

“All my friends were hanging out in the small neighborhood of Harajuku and I liked the idea of it so I named the brand based on that. In the beginning our business was mainly importing clothes from outlet stores in the States. Both TET, my partner and designer of WTAPS, and I were completely amateur buyers so everything wasn’t planned out and was pretty irresponsible. I remember looking at a map of America and we found a city called buffalo and said to each other, ‘Look! This city sounds pretty cool, maybe there’s something between there and New York!’ We ended up driving all the way dropping by outlet malls in between the two cities. We bought a bunch of outdoor related clothing and products all of which sold really poorly. We also bought a lot of RRL [Ralph Lauren] shirts, which were popular and hard to find back then, but they sold poorly as well. We thought to ourselves, ‘Shit we’ve got to do something to get rid of them!’ So we decided to screen print our own graphics on them and that actually worked out really well. I guess that’s what started us thinking about producing our own clothing.”

Fertilize Properly

“My basic idea was to make biker-style clothing. The typical bikers with beards, long hair and the t-shirt with an eagle print influenced me, but then I thought of my own style, which was denim jeans and white shirts and always wanted to be different from everyone else. That was the time when you could experiment and do the things you wanted to. I’ve been running this brand for 15 years now and that period could be divided into two. Back then was an innocent carefree time, and now I have to focus on the business. In the first couple of years, I never really had to care about anything – I just did whatever I wanted, but these days I have to think more about the business especially the way the economy is right now. When we started Neighborhood, we didn’t even have an office! But that didn’t really matter. We had complete freedom and everything we made sold out immediately. We never could hold in to any stock in our store because everything would sell out so fast. We were completely different from the other brands and I guess maybe looked fresh to all the kids. There wasn’t much choice around that time so that’s probably another reason why we were so successful and the kids wanted something new. We were never a big company but slowly we have been growing bigger over the years. The longer you’re in business, the market grows bigger. But when you are in this business as long as we have you may no longer look fresh, so we’ve been fighting to establish and maintain our own identity. Our identity is based on street culture we are outsiders in the fashion industry in Japan, the way we started and the way we operate, the industry has always ignored us. We never do your typical collection shows and are very independent business. I totally understand the value of showing a collection to the whole industry and there are some brands that do that whom I respect, but I also believe that there should be some brands that take another direction and that’s what Neighborhood is all about.”

Feed With Sunshine And Water

“We made our first original piece of clothing – a Vintage wash overall in 1995. When I looked at this jacket now, it may be a little poor in quality and roughly made, but you can still get a sense of our philosophy in it. Clothes that you can get a feeling from, from the first moment you put it on – that is my philosophy. It is different from what other brands are doing so I take a lot of pride in it. I like vintage clothing but the idea that there is only one piece and that nobody can wear it except the owner is a little disappointing. Based on that, I wanted to make products with the same vintage feeling but that were not one-offs. We weren’t the first brand who started to use vintage wash techniques, but we were definitely one of the first and I am proud of that. We started to produce vintage wash clothing when none of the factories even knew how to do it. We were learning as we were going along. I’m still designing everything and have been clicking away on my Mac for the last 15 years! And that won’t change I guess. I have to take care of both the design side and managing the company. I once tried to concentrate only on running the business but I couldn’t keep motivated and felt bored!”

Let Your Garden Prosper

“We started our new line ‘Luker by Neighborhood’ last year and I’ll continue to design everything. What we’ve been doing and creating is already well established within a certain market, but there is still an opportunity to do more. We have a certain image that Neighborhood is known for and that can sometimes also be a problem as the Harajuku perception is too strong to judge our products fairly. The opportunity to show our products is still somewhat limited. We have a lot of confidence in the quality of our products and if we have the chance, we would like to show this to a broader market – what we came up with was ‘Luker’. The set up is a little different to Neighborhood as we are wholesaling to completely different stockists. It’s a big challenge for us but it’s a great opportunity to show our new products designed by Neighborhood with a slightly different theme at differing locations, which in turn may lead to new customers who know nothing about our main brand, Neighborhood. Neighborhood, on the other hand will continue doing what we’ve always done. Our clothes can be worn year after you buy them and you can still feel comfortable wearing them. Our creations are very basic but that’s who we are, adding on new elements and reinterpreting our clothes each season is what Neighborhood is all about.”