PROFILE
Born in Tokyo in 1969, he opened "Downtown Rockers Mart," the predecessor of Wolf's Head, in his hometown of Sendagi in 1991, and began producing studs in earnest in 1995. In addition to handling original studded items and vintage wear, he has collaborated with his friends "Wacomaria" and "GM" as well as "Comme des Garçons," "Ramidas," and "Gabor," and is energetically active as a leader in studded work.
PROFILE
Born in 1979 in Mie Prefecture , Japan. After training, he opened the boot repair and custom store "Fukurokuju" in 2002, and while working as a specialist in made in USA boot repair, he is also involved in the soleing of domestic boot brands and official repair of foreign brands. After more than 10 years of planning, he will launch his original brand "Keystone" in 2019, incorporating his knowledge of boots gained through repair work.
, a collaboration that has come to fruition almost 20 years after their tense first meeting.
Wolf's Head is located in a back alley at the foot of Dango Hill in Sendagi. The store, which is not large by any means, displays gems of vintage pieces, and many creators and celebrities in Tokyo, as well as people from all over Japan, visit this legendary store to order studded pieces by the owner, Takuji Mikita. And then there is Fukurokuju, which operates a boot repair workshop in the back alleys of Asakusa and Nihonzutsumi, the home of shoemaking. The representative, Takeshi Okuyama, is one of the key figures in popularizing boot sole repair in Japan, and is one of the craftsmen who would be considered a moguri if he were not known in the shoe industry.
Both have set up store far from the fashion town, and both have built up an isolated position, but their collaboration came about when Mr. Okuyama launched his own boot brand, "Keystone," incorporating the knowledge he gained from his boot repair business. What was the process of their collaboration?
Please tell us how the two of you met.
Okuyama: You may think Mikita-san met me through a mutual friend, but in fact, I had been to Wolf's Head in Sendagi with a friend around 2000, before we launched Fukurokuju.
Mikita: Seriously? Did you make it into the store? (Laughs)
Okuyama: I wondered why I was getting so many stares when I was there as a customer (laughs). My friend wanted a studded wristband, so we went to see the show together, but I was too nervous and ended up leaving without buying anything.
Mikita: Basically, I spend most of my time at the counter working on stud patterns, so it's a hassle if I have to serve customers when I'm concentrating on my work. I don't mean to pick a fight, but it's a hassle when I have to serve someone when I'm concentrating on something. What do you want?" I'm not trying to pick a fight, but it's a hassle when I have to serve someone else. . But that doesn't mean I can't let someone else take care of the customer service.
I am sure that the customers who come to "Wolf's Head" understand Mikita-san's character and enjoy shopping, including the tension between the two.
Mikita: That's the only kind of person who comes in. Most people knock before entering a store. When we were young people in the 80's, there were many scary vintage clothing stores, and although the customer service was scary, we still wanted to buy from them.
Okuyama: There were a lot of them. Motorcycle shops were terrible. It was common for them to not talk to me for an hour or so when I entered the store.
Mikita: You were there for an entire hour? I'm sure the people at the restaurant were annoyed as well (laughs).
Okuyama: I didn't know when to breathe, and I had to wait until someone spoke to me. I didn't even know if I could go home (laughs). (Laughs.) But I persevered and went back several times, and when I finally got a chance to talk to someone, I was very happy. Nowadays, such stores have disappeared.
Mikita: The bike shop is working all the time, too, so I'm sure that when a customer comes in, they're going to be like, "What? I'm busy right now. We don't do it for the sake of doing it, it just happens naturally, but there are fewer stores like that now.
Fukurokuju is like Wolf's Head in that you have to visit the actual store and take your foot measurements before you can buy boots, but the atmosphere is quite relaxed, isn't it?
Mikita: Fukurokuju" is a very homey place, isn't it? I would say, "I'm busy," but Okuyama always treats his customers well, no matter how busy he is. And that's what makes me fall in love with the place and stay there for a long time.
Okuyama: As I'm explaining things to them, they get excited about it themselves (laughs).
. In a sense, it seems surprising that two people with opposite characters would collaborate with each other.
Okuyama: Actually, after my first visit to the store, when I was again introduced to Mikita-san through an acquaintance, I said to him, "If you make original boots someday, please put studs on them.
Mikita: . I don't remember that at all.... At that time, I knew Okuyama's work through repairing boots, and I would have thought that this guy would definitely make good boots someday. . Besides, I like the fact that we were not forced to make the boots in order to collaborate, but it was a natural progression of collaboration when Okuyama spent more than 10 years perfecting a boot that he was satisfied with.
Okuyama: I couldn't show the boots to Mikita-san until they were properly finished. If I had shown him the progress, he probably would have said, "This part is no good.
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