official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)The keywords are sports and utility. We are a unit of friends who have built their careers in the fields of casual wear, sportswear, and imports, with the aim of proposing items that make everyday life fun, comfortable, and stylish. Our goal is to create products that you want to keep forever, and that will not be transitory.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)Surfing was a hobby when I was a student, and for 18 years I worked for Helly Hansen, a marine wear brand, at Goldwynn, which I joined upon graduation. Imaki, the director who launched Nana Mika with me, also loves the sea. Therefore, we decided to use a name that is associated with the sea and expresses our desire to connect with people beyond national borders and ideologies, and to transmit our ideas to the world.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)After working for Helly Hansen for many years, in 2001 I took charge of a new project to create a brand together with an apparel company, utilizing the sportswear know-how of Goldwyn. While doing product planning and sales, I was asked by select stores here and there to do special orders for The North Face. However, since they are a serious outdoor manufacturer, they naturally did not accept any special orders for fashion.

In the world of sportswear, there is a clear reason for every design and detail. In the fashion world, on the other hand, there are many designers who create products just to look good. For example, they mix sportswear materials with military collars and work pockets without any restraint. However, there is a danger that "The North Face" will cease to be "The North Face" if they do so.

However, we, the manufacturers, knew that a slight update would definitely make it easier to use in town. If that was the case, we thought it would be better if we, who had devoted most of our lives to creating purposeful sportswear, designed them. Furthermore, at the time, the demand was changing from an era in which the best choice was to select a high-spec product for the time being to one in which just the right specs for one's daily needs were required. We had confidence in our ability to fit in with current fashions and modern lifestyles without pulling out any pins that should not be pulled out. We believed that our strength lies in taking functional products and skillfully adapting them to the times.

In addition, tight-fitting clothes were the mainstream at that time. However, classic "The North Face," such as vintage clothing that was popular as a fashion item, was mainly oversized. If you didn't choose two sizes down, you wouldn't be able to wear them in today's balance. So we thought that just by making the garments a little bit smaller, we could make them look more sophisticated. By keeping the design, but changing the material to make it more comfortable for street wear, or conversely, by incorporating the brand's traditional material into a completely different design, we could create new added value by adjusting the sizing and functions for town use while retaining the shape and materials. After we had established this general direction, I invited Imaki, who had worked with me for some time, to join me and we launched NANAMICA.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)At that time, the guy in charge of product planning and branding at The North Face was a colleague of mine and one of my closest friends. He is now the vice president of Goldwyn, but he and I worked side by side in the same department for a long time, so we understood each other's sense of style and ability.

So I asked him, "There is no "The North Face" that is just right for me right now, so will you let me make one for myself? I will never cross a borderline that I shouldn't cross, so please let me try it once. Normally, this would have been an impossible request, but because we had grown up in the same company and were good friends, or rather, bad friends, he gave me a special OK. That was the origin of Purple Label.

The Purple Label" was introduced with a special tag to distinguish it from "The North Face. The purple tag is now widely known, but it was originally used on the women's line of a Japanese project that existed when I joined Goldwyn in the 1980s. We unearthed it from the archives and found that it contrasted beautifully with the clothes, so we decided to revive it as a tag for another line. We didn't name it "Purple Label," but the contrast of the name naturally led people to call it "Purple Label. We didn't have our own store at the time, so we started by wholesaling to select stores.

At the same time, we approached Goldwyn's brands such as Helly Hansen, Champion, Canterbury, and Elesse, and arranged the sizes and materials as we wanted to wear them, making them the first lineup of Nana Mika.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)We started planning the house brand little by little after we opened the store. We began to create these items based on the idea that although they were necessary for the store, it was not the same as placing a special order for an existing brand. Therefore, we were not proposing a collection of brands, but rather single items that filled in gaps in the lineup.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)To put it simply, "PURPLE LABEL" has an outdoor-like design, while "NANAMICA" has a marine or ivy atmosphere. For example, even if the same fabric is used for both, the former is a field-type jacket and the latter is a stadium jacket. We are conscious of such differences, but since they are made by the same members in the same kitchen, they are both still our items.

Even so, it is true that The North Face's name value is extremely strong. We have even received requests from our business partners to replace the "NANAMICA" tags with "PURPLE LABEL" tags. I understand that this would certainly sell better, but it would lose the identity of the brand. So we politely decline.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)Although "Purple Label" is for town use, there are still some items that cannot be proposed under the name of "The North Face. Therefore, in 2007, we began to promote the branding of NANAMICA in earnest as a place for our own free creation. From that time on, we became aware that not only our directly managed stores but also other select stores would carry our products. Then, NANAMICA became known as a brand that handled the already notable "Purple Label" brand.

Also, people overseas knew more about this kind of information than I had expected. Since Purple Label was only sold in Japan, it seemed to have attracted their interest, and they were eager to look it up on the Internet. When I went to overseas exhibitions to buy as NANAMICA, I was approached by people who said, "You make PURPLE LABEL, don't you? When we went to overseas exhibitions as "NANAMICA," we were approached by buyers and showrooms from overseas who said they wanted to carry our products, or they would come to our store in Daikanyama and leave their business cards with us. As the name "NANAMICA" implies, from the beginning we had the idea of expanding our business worldwide, but we thought we were completely unknown overseas. However, I began to think that under the circumstances, we might have a small chance of winning.

First, we did test sales for two to three seasons at several stores in Italy where we had many acquaintances. After that, in 2010, we finally decided to make a full-scale entry into the overseas market, and exhibited for the first time at "Pitti Immagine Uomo," one of the world's largest men's fashion exhibitions held in Florence. We only had two or three English-speaking staff members, so it was quite a gamble (laughs). (Laughs) But we thought, "If we are going to do this, now is the time! (laughs). My friends who had exhibited at Pitti told me, "We won't get any orders at first," so I was prepared for that and decided to wait and see how things went for a few seasons. However, we were able to get a certain amount of orders from the very first show, and the turnout was unexpectedly strong. Also, luckily, at the time, Ivy-like American sports styles were gaining momentum, so it was the perfect time for NANAMICA's tastes to be in the center of the world. The fact that the trend continued for a long time also gave us a tailwind.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)That's right. For a long time, the presence of "Purple Label" was so large in Japan that people did not pay that much attention to it. But once overseas stores started carrying our products, the number of stores in Japan started to increase.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)I think the younger generation is flat these days, but people in their 30s, 40s, and above have strong faith in the West, so the way they see things may change when they are handled overseas. For example, when an Asian brand holds an exhibition in Paris, they receive many orders, but in Japan, they may not be accepted at all.

When I was in my 20s, there was a time when I would check overseas exhibitions and fashion magazines for inspiration for product planning, but now the situation is reversed. There are probably more foreign designers researching Tokyo than Japanese designers looking for material overseas. In fact, when foreign officials visit Japan, they sometimes ask me where they should go to check out.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)It is sold in 24 countries throughout North America and Europe, as well as in Australia, Asia, and South Africa, and is carried by an average of about 90 stores, with some seasonal fluctuations. International accounts number approximately 150 or more stores.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)Although the number of such brands has increased considerably, when we first went abroad, daily casual wear using high-level functional materials was rare, and there were no brands that stood out in this way. At the same time, there were already brands that were highly acclaimed overseas for their delicate Japanese craftsmanship, but they were in a different zone from ours: they were popular for their modernization while precisely reproducing vintage styles. The base of Nana Mika's designs were American classics, so although they looked similar when drawn, the fabrics were made of functional materials, and the worldview and the final product were different.

Also, there are not many brands that use Gore-Tex on cotton or wool materials. NANAMICA even made linen with Gore-Tex attached to it. I think that new attempt was also highly evaluated.

Promotional book distributed by Gore Japan for apparel companies. It introduces "NANAMICA" as one of six representative brands that skillfully employ Gore-Tex® materials. The upper photo is the Japanese version. The lower photo is the European version produced by Gore of Germany. Here, too, NANAMICA is featured alongside other well-known global brands.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)Purple Label" is basic casual wear with a whiff of classic outdoor wear. NANA MICA is based on American authentic and traditional styles. In contrast, the items proposed by other outdoor brands are mainly sporty or high-tech in design. Since our image and products are different, I don't feel that we are competing with each other.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)We always value the reality that exists within us. Therefore, we do not make products that we do not want to wear, even though they would probably sell well if we did. Also, even if a product is actually doing well, we may remove it from the lineup if we feel that it is out of sync with our sense of the time as time goes by, or if it is about to enter an area that we do not want to be in. Then, when the times or mood changes and the product fits again, we revive it.

As is often the case with major apparel manufacturers, when a hit product is created and continues to sell well, even if the creators feel that it is no longer cool, they cannot stop because the demand is still high, and it continues to be a mainstay item. It is not wrong from a business standpoint, but we try to be honest about our true feelings.

Fashion values are constantly changing, so even the best items may gradually become out of step with the times. In addition, customers sometimes change brands, and what started out as a cool college student's outfit may eventually be worn by high school students, and then by junior high school students, and before you know it, a childish image may take hold.

The North Face is one such brand, but with a sports manufacturer, it is not strange to see an old man in his 60s and a junior high school student wearing the same brand. It would not be strange if a woman wore a brand worn by a man, would it?　Ideally, we would like to be able to be cross-gender and cross-age, but we are trying to control this so that we don't get symbolized in a way that we don't want to be.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)As I mentioned earlier, when we first started in 2003, we asked a brand owned by Goldwyn to allow us to create a capsule collection for "Nanamika. Since then, however, we have basically been passive, responding to offers from other companies. However, there are times when we like the first collaboration so much that we request a second one.

That being said, we do not refuse anyone who comes to us. We refuse collaborations that are too business-like, or that seek to capitalize on the popularity of "Purple Label" or "NANA MICA". We are very conscious of the reality of whether the person at the center of the other party's creativity understands and likes our company. And we only work with partners whom we can evaluate on an equal footing. Rather than generating buzz or generating money, we feel the significance of bringing two entities together and creating new value, and we still maintain these pure motivations.

official size of a tatami mat for measuring room size (esp. a Kyoto-size tatami mat)As of now, we have decided to open our first directly-managed store overseas in Soho, New York this fall. For the past 10 years, our products have been sold in many countries around the world, but it was difficult to convey the world view of "Nanamika" because we do not have a full lineup. But we want people to know what we think, and we have fans who want to see more. We want the entire space, including the products, to be like a showroom for our customers, where they can see, touch, and feel.

Also, as I have been thinking since the establishment of the company, I would like to seriously tackle and enrich ladies' items. Our ideal brand is one that is popular with both men and women, and since we have staff members who have a desire for ladies' wear, we would like to make this a reality.

The other challenge is not only for fashion use but also for active wear such as jogging. These are items to be worn for casual enjoyable sports, not serious competitive ones. In recent years, exercise has become much more accessible and is becoming a natural part of our lifestyle, and we want to be a part of that. In this ever-changing era, we always want to be a part of the "real" world.