PROFILE
After graduating from college, he worked in the fashion retail industry as a sales representative, buyer, and brand director before participating in the founding of "UNITED ARROWS" in 1989. He has served as head of the sales promotion department and creative director, and is currently the company's senior advisor in charge of creative direction.
Gray is still a neutral color.
Kurino-san, when did you first come in contact with "New Balance"?
Kurino: I saw them for the first time in 1986 or 1987, around the time they first came to Japan. I was working at BEAMS at the time, and one of the staff members was a lover of American things, and he told me that "these shoes are the best recommendation right now. He told me that intelligent and elegant people, including the President of the United States, were wearing them.
But to be honest, I wasn't really interested in them at the time. The silhouette was awfully round, and I thought that no matter how comfortable they were, I would not wear them.
But then you started wearing them, didn't you?
Kurino: I wore them for the first time more than 10 years later, in 1998. At the time, I wanted to wear black suits on a daily basis. I thought about what to do about shoes at that time. If I wore a black suit with a white shirt and black leather shoes, I would look like an assassin (laughs).
So the first "UNITED ARROWS" store was located along Meiji-dori in Shibuya at the time, and our office was also near there. There were many sneaker shops in that area, and when I popped into one store, the all-black suede "576" caught my eye. The letter "N" was black, not white, and I thought, "This won't stand out," so I bought them.
Did you feel a good fit when you tried them on?
Kurino: New Balance shoes are, after all, anonymous. It says "N," but the shape is simple, and there is nothing intrusive about them. That's why they blended in with my stoic black suit. I thought, "This way I don't have to become a hit man. And the comfort is wonderful.
Kurino: The suit and sneakers look had existed before. For example, John Lennon wore white sneakers with a white suit on the Beatles' record jacket, and Woody Allen wore low-tech sneakers with a tuxedo in his movies. There may have been some people who wore "New Balance" with suits, but it was not a major style. I liked it so much that I started wearing them with suits and jackets.
Mr. Kurino initially thought that "I wouldn't wear them," and I think that "New Balance" had not penetrated the general public as a fashionable shoe. Nowadays, however, they are recognized as "fashionable shoes. Why do you think that is?
Kurino: I think it is because Japanese people are fashionable. Have you ever seen the movie "Love Again"? In the movie, a playboy teaches an unattractive man the secret to attracting women, and the unattractive man wears New Balance shoes. There is a scene in which Playboy tells him that he is unattractive because he wears shoes like that and throws them away. That may still be the image in America. People from overseas often say to me, "No other country wears so many New Balance shoes. The staff at UNITED ARROWS also like them and wear them a lot. I think the wear rate is really high.
Why does it fit in with fashion?
Kurino: It's probably because it's simple. That's all there is to it. I happened to start with black, but I think gray, the key color of "New Balance," is a neutral color. No other brand offers shoes in this color. If you were to make gray leather shoes, you would have to use elephant skin or something like that (laughs). If we had used red or green as a key color, I don't think they would have become so popular. It's a really rare case of a shoe being recognized by its color.
By the way, when I type "sneakers" on my smartphone, a gray shoe appears as an emoji. I am sure those are "New Balance" shoes. I was surprised when I saw it for the first time. I thought it was amazing. But why gray?
There are a number of theories, but one is that New Balance decided on gray to match the streets of Boston, where the company is headquartered, and another is that when Chairman Jim Davis was looking at ski wear at an outdoor store, he saw a gray item among all the colorful clothing and thought, "This is it! and he adopted it.
Kurino: Both are good stories. I was fortunate to have met and interviewed Jim Davis before. He has a clear policy on management, contributes to the community, and I respect him as a person. Of all the sports brands in the world, the number one and number two are the companies that everyone can imagine. However, it is difficult to identify the number three. In this context, he said, "New Balance wants to be an attractive number three.
In advertising, you don't actively use super athletes or famous models. In the 1970s, there were advertisements featuring old men and women. In the 70's, there were advertisements featuring old men and women. However, they had charming old men and women wearing them. At the time, I was the head of the sales promotion department, so I learned a lot from such advertising ideas.
Shoes that are suitable for men and women of all ages, right?
Kurino: Yes, it was. I think it was a very pop and effective ad. I felt that it was a very modern company.
Also, the new campaign visuals that were recently unveiled were fantastic. Teddy Santis, the founder of the Emme Léon Doré brand, announces that he will be the creative director of New Balance, a "made in the U.S.A." brand. It is a cool expression of diversity and really cool. The models are of a wide range of ages, races, and genders, and the occupations of the bakers, barbers, tailors, butchers, painters, and other craftspeople living in New York City are all intelligent. I was personally pleased that the photography also pays homage to Irving Penn's way of shooting. The more I get to know these people, the more I want to work with them.
