I don't know much about what's happening in the world today , but I do know what kind of things will remain in the future.
It was a weekday evening when Mr. Kaneko spoke to us. Inside a reshop.
Kaneko-san, where is your hometown?
Kaneko:Mitaka , so it was like Kichijoji was my field. I learned most of what I know there. I entered a clothing store in Kichijoji right after graduating from high school. It was a mass retailer, and I didn't really know what I was getting into. I hadn't done any serious job hunting, so before I graduated, I thought I was in trouble ...... and applied for a job by chance when I saw a job opening. But of course, what they were selling was completely different from the kind of clothes I liked. So during my breaks, I always went to other clothing stores (laughs).
...... I don't feel like I was looking too far into the future.
Kaneko:Yes, that's right (laughs). But since I had seen the highways of various things in that way, I think I had a sense at that time that, "Well, what kind of things will remain after this?" I think that sense of "Then, what will remain in the future? For example, I thought, "These bags made by Outdoor Products will be around for 100 years," and so on. I don't know much about what is happening in the world today, but even if I don't know that, I know what kind of things will be around in the future. I have learned this point of view through experience and by feeling.
Do you have any thoughts on this change from the past to the present?
Kaneko:The stores I used to see when I was a child have been almost completely destroyed. Only a few used clothing stores have remained unchanged, but most of the stores I saw that sold new items have disappeared. I think such stores should evolve even though they remain the same, but even though I have been watching them for several years, they have not really changed. I kept coming back, but after a couple of years, I stopped going there, and when I noticed, the store had disappeared. However, we (reshop) also do things the old-fashioned way, or rather, we make things from my experience, things I find on the street, or things I talk about with other people and they say, "This is a good idea. I am still doing the same thing, but I am able to evolve because I go to various places and feel the atmosphere of the times firsthand.
People are proud of stores that have a traditional product lineup, saying that they are "consistent," but they don't necessarily shop there and support them enthusiastically, so even stores with a strong core may have a hard time surviving.
Kaneko:. but maybe nothing has changed for me since I was 18. But you must not stand still. If I become like, "I've always been here," I won't be able to give value to anything, so I have to be careful about that. As for the special orders for "Outdoor Products," I made them because I admired the '80s, but I also wanted to make sure that they fit the current mood. I don't always think that much about the details when I'm making them, but I always feel that I have to offer something like that to everyone. That's how it came to be. It would be nice to try this with a different material, but in my mind, there is a high possibility that it would end up being just a story. I think it's absolutely right for me to use Cordura nylon.
The current model 452U is made of Cordura nylon.
. I think that the topic of today's special orders and collaborations is becoming more and more important, and many brands are trying to do something as outlandish as possible. How did you come up with the idea of making a huge backpack while keeping the standard backpack feel?
Kaneko:As a premise, when we originally launched "Reshop", the concept was a "vintage clothing store" in a sense. People who say, "I don't shop at select stores much anymore," and who are graduates of select stores, as far as I can tell, all went to secondhand clothing stores. I was one of them. I started out with the feeling that "new clothes were finished. But of course, "reshop" started as a store that sold new clothes. I was trying to figure out why people end up going to secondhand clothing stores. In a secondhand clothing store, there are sometimes irregular items among the mass-produced items, right? What is it? This oddly shaped Brooks Brothers item is from ......." . I think people are attracted to that kind of balance that you can't find in new products. Even for things like "Outdoor Products," there's something a little mysterious about them, or something that looks normal but is something you've never seen before. Even with shirts, I think, "If the sleeves are so short, maybe they were made for someone who is shorter than me. I thought that if we could make new items like that, we could bring customers back to the select store.
On the left is the standard 452U backpack, and on the right is a special order model from Reshop.
When placed side by side, the difference in size can be clearly seen.
You wanted to bring the surprise of old clothes to new ones.
Kaneko:Of course, the quality and condition of a new bag is always better, but I thought, "This is the Outdoor Products! I thought, "This is Outdoor Products!" I wondered if I could come up with a bag that would be as good as the old ones. But I didn't want to change the prototype of the 452U that has been around for decades, so I suddenly wondered, "What would the shape be like if it were made to fit someone 190 cm tall? And I wondered, "If a person of my stature were to hold it, wouldn't the balance change as well? I thought, "What if I made it to fit a 190 cm tall person? I thought it would also look cute when I carried it on my back, and the image was born. That's exactly what I felt when I was looking at vintage clothing. So, there were a few key points. To keep the prototype, to fit someone's size and have a different person hold it, and on top of that, the pockets have a bit of a snooty form, which wasn't calculated but was an interesting part.
