The Fashion Memorandum of Keiji Kaneko
Buying Diary for Summer 2022, Part 1: England

Kaneko:I drove about 300 kilometers from London to get there. I have admired the Corgi brand since I was a young man, so I was very impressed to see the factory. I heard that the brand was named after the founder, who owned a Corgi dog.

Kaneko:Socks seem to be selling really well, but you are also knitting a lot of knitwear.

Kaneko:This is the leftover yarn from the factory, but it seems that only one or two knits can be made with it, and there is no way to get it out of the factory, so they have no use for it. I originally wanted to make about 50 colors of the same type of knit for "Corgi," and I thought I could do it with this. The brand said, "You can choose whatever you like without a minimum," so I picked my favorite colors. As a result, I was only able to choose 20 or so colors, but since I will never be able to make this yarn again, I think I will sell it in "reshop" as a one-of-a-kind collection.

Kaneko:I heard that leaving the threads would have caused the factory to go out of business, and it sounds like the destination was grateful for the opportunity to do so. It's almost like upcycling.

Kaneko:The day after "Corgi," I headed to the next destination. It is also about 300 kilometers from Wales, so we started driving early in the morning.

Kaneko:I think people have the impression that "Sunspel" is a super-simple cut-and-sew brand, but the workers at this factory are all veteran craftsmen who have been with the company for more than 20 years, and they make T-shirts in a way that is very similar to handmade work. The person in charge told me, "What we make are tailor-made T-shirts," and that really hit home with me. We have a strong production control system, and we don't let amateurs sew our T-shirts.

Kaneko:We were also shown old Sea Island cotton and valuable archives. I felt the magnificence of a historic brand and the Britishness of the brand in the fact that these items are still around.

Kaneko:I explained to them that we were going to make cut-and-sew garments in nine sizes based on the same concept as "LE," but they didn't seem to understand what I was saying. We think that by offering nine sizes, we can propose items in unique sizes for people who want to wear items that fit their own body shape or have a different balance than usual. But the factory workers seem to be more concerned about "how to make it.

Kaneko:I think they probably did. They ended up accepting it after being told to "fill in the sizes on our spec sheet for now."

Kaneko:Yes, I am very happy with the quality of the product. This brand has a long history, so it was great. The factory is huge, and there are all kinds of machines, from old ones to the latest ones. Sampel has a factory in Portugal, and new designs are made there, whereas John Smedley can do whatever they want, so they can handle a wide variety of orders.

Kaneko:I also felt a bit warmed by the fact that there were many people who put family photos or postcards of their favorite artists on their machines, not only for this brand.

Kaneko:This is the hotel we stayed at that day. The staff at Sunspel made the reservation for us, but we didn't even decide on a hotel, we were just buying in the style of enjoying a sense of adventure (laughs).

This summer in England was extremely hot, nearly 40 degrees Celsius, and the rooms were not air-conditioned, so it was very harsh.

Kaneko:It's not just about buying, it's about how we can get another harvest. We can take pictures that we would never be able to take in Japan, so we have the spirit of making sure that this is also connected to PR.

Kaneko:And this is Lavenham, which I visited the next day. Like at Corgi, there was a lot of surplus fabric here. I thought it would be difficult to stock them from now on since they were all fall/winter materials, but I am looking forward to seeing them deliver them by the end of this year.

Kaneko:Here we were also shown a machine for making quilting. It seemed to be a fairly new machine, and they were emphasizing how to make fabrics efficiently and how to maintain their own style while updating their technology. I was deeply moved when I learned about these things.

Kaneko:LAVENHAM" generally uses snap buttons, and if you try to do it with regular buttonholes, the price goes up tremendously. I wondered, "Why is it so expensive when it's such a simple job? I wondered why, but when I went there, I understood why. It seems that they only have a line to attach snap buttons. That's how they protect what they do.

Kaneko:This man is the president of the company. He is a very cool guy, and we asked him to wear a sample of a special order we brought him.

Kaneko:That's exactly how it was, and I had nothing but pride anyway. It is no wonder that many of them have been working for the company for a long time. The love for the company is just amazing.

Kaneko:I reaffirmed that the continuation of a brand or factory depends largely on its people.

Kaneko:We had to camp overnight on this day in a hurry. On the way there, I found out that there was a glamping facility, and since I also had a photo shoot in mind, I booked it without hesitation. However, it was much further away than I had expected, so it was a lot of work.

Kaneko:I stayed the next day and started shooting in the morning (laughs). This is a remade item from "Carhartt" that I purchased in Bristol.

Kaneko:I work quite hard and sleep very little. I also travel early every morning. Everyone who accompanies me is surprised. That's why I am always on. If I relax, the fatigue rushes in.