The goal is to interest all kinds of people.
Did Kaneko-san and Ogi-san have some degree of agreement on what they wanted to create?
Kaneko:As I said before, I was kind of talking about British, and what else was there?
Ogi:When there was the Classico Italia boom in the 90s, suits were quite British. It was like something derived from England, but made in an Italian factory. We talked about how it would be great to create something like that.
My impression is that English suits are stiff, while Italian suits are soft and fluffy. Is it a mix of the two?
Kaneko:That's right. It's not that I think Savile Row tailoring is a must, but we both like the lightness of Italian wrapping, and we aimed for something in between.
Miyahara:Yes, the jacket this time is not a stiff British one. For example, the wool core is soft and not so hard. The pattern is British, but we also incorporated Italian softness as a texture. That's why the lapels are not too stiff. If we made a hard jacket, it would be a bit too hard for young people who want to try jackets.
I can sense from the prices that you want young people to wear your clothes. I was surprised to see items of this quality priced in the 50,000 yen range.
Miyahara:Yes, it is. However, it is not originally possible to do it at this price.
¥125,000+TAX
¥54,000+TAX
¥54,000+TAX
¥54,000+TAX
Kaneko:Price did his best on our end.... We wanted to make the entrance soft and gentle. We didn't want people to want to buy something but not be able to because of the high price.
Miyahara:If you try to include everything you like without setting a price, you end up with expensive items. For this project, there is a jacket in the 100,000 yen range, but since we made that first, we thought it would be too expensive, so we decided to make something in a more modest zone.
The quality is quite high, even if it's a bit tame. What is the difference?
Miyahara:The difference is in the fabric and accessories. We have not changed the wool core, and since they are made on the same production line in the same factory, the texture and quality are comparable.
Kaneko:Originally, we were proceeding with a target price of about 50,000-60,000 yen. Since the goal of this project is to interest all kinds of people, I had no intention of making expensive items, but as you can see, the members of this project were so strong that I couldn't stop them... (wry laugh). This time we are only making jackets, but eventually we would like to make suits.
Ogi:This jacket is very basic, isn't it? I think the great thing about traditional clothing is that a shirt from Brooks Brothers, for example, looks completely different when worn by Gianni Anielli than it does by Andy Warhol. Each person has his or her own individuality, and we wanted to create basic items that would make the most of such individuality.
