Good fabrics dwell in good clothes.
You decided to bring the charm of fabrics to the world by your own hands and launched "HAKURO". 21AW will feature two types of pants, tapered and wide, in six different fabrics.
One reason is that I myself wear wool pants year-round. In particular, I have nearly 10 pairs of wool easy pants, and I wanted to share their quality with many people.
Easy pants are an item that boomed in the early 2010s and now seems to have settled down. But you dared to make easy pants. Why?
We wanted to convey the quality of the fabric in a simple way. To do so, we thought it would be best to cut out as much extraneous material as possible. I wanted to make an item that you can feel the fabric rather than one that draws the eye to details here and there.
I can see why you chose the pants and the easy-going design. Is it also the reason why you stuck to solid colors?
That's right. There was a time when Yamakae Wool Textile competed with plain black fabrics, and that experience is still at the core of our business. Plain colors cannot be faked, so it is very difficult to compete in this field. Around 2000, we began to handle not only wool, but also linen, cotton, and a variety of other materials. This has been utilized in the creation of Hakuro's clothes.
What kind of items will be lined up for the 21AW season?
The serge
doeskin
alashan cash
The lineup includes "The serge" made of serge fabric, the most basic of all wool fabrics, and "doeskin", a slightly rearranged version for Hakuro of a historical fabric that has been produced at Yamasei Wool Textile for about 40 years. Among them, "alashan cash," a cashmere 1001 TP10T, is a work of confidence. Normally, cashmere is made from spun wool, but we dared to use carded wool, which is used for suits. Generally, it is difficult to express the quality of cashmere with carded fabrics, but since we are a machine shop, we took on this challenge.
special order "white flannel In order to achieve both a comfortable feel against the skin and a tailored look, a slightly finer wool is used only for the warp yarn. This is a hidden taste. The fabric is eco-friendly and dye-free, so you can really feel the natural fibers.
They all look quiet, but when you touch them, you realize how powerful the fabrics are. Through Hakuro, have you realized anything new as a weaver since you have been involved in the entire process from fabric production to finished products?
Although we are still talking about fabrics, what we were reminded of was the fact that a fabric that is woven within the appropriate range and with a firm beating is still good. The reactions of buyers and other professionals who actually tried on our products made us realize that we had not made a mistake in our manufacturing to date. It is often said that "good fabrics are in good clothes," and good fabrics can be conveyed in clothing as well.
Lastly, please tell us about your future outlook. In the two seasons since your debut, you have conveyed the quality of your fabrics through two types of pants, but do you have any plans for new models, or for developments other than pants?
We are currently specializing in pants, but we are not particularly particular about that. We want to convey both the good and bad aspects of natural fibers while utilizing the history and know-how of Yamakae Wool Textile Co. We always want to learn and change as we develop new fabrics.
When I listen to what you say, I get the impression that although you are an apparel brand, your clothes are merely an intermediary for dealing with and delivering good fabrics. I get the impression that you are just like that. In other words, it is like a catch-and-release experiment to brush up on fabrics.
I'm embarrassed to say that I felt like I was saying the same thing in the end in everything I was talking about (laughs). On the flip side, maybe what we want to do is that clear. As you can see from the large number of fabric samples in this office, there was once a time when a tremendous variety of fabrics were developed. There were more dreams about fabrics and clothes than there are today. I want to pursue good fabrics through "Hakuro" so as not to be outdone by such a past. That is my sole intention.
