Unlikely Clothes Born from "Fertile Wardrobe". | feature

PROFILE

Takayuki Minami

Representative of alpha.co.ltd. He has organized various brands, stores, and events such as Graphpaper, Fresh Service, and Ogawa Coffee, and is involved in all areas related to fashion and culture.

PROFILE

Daishi Nishino

After working in PR for the American traditional brand Brooks Brothers, he established the PR company Nishinoya in 2017. On the other hand, he also started a pants brand , for which he serves as the designer. He scavenges secondhand clothes all over Japan and has a lot of clothes he never wears.

Interpretation as street wear from a fashion perspective is added.

Q: This is the release of the second Tap Water item.

South:Yes, we did. We talked about continuing to do this to some extent.

Westfield:We would get together each time and try to reincarnate the fodder in the wardrobe.

Do you both have a large stock of ideas?

South:Basically, they are in Nishino's wardrobe. I don't see any of mine. He buys a tremendous amount of used clothing from all over the world.

Westfield:Yes, I buy quite a bit (chuckles).

South:We often do pop-up events together, and even though it's an event to sell used clothes, you do this mysterious thing where you buy more in various places than you sell, right?

Westfield:I just can't help but buy. I calculate the profit to some extent in my mind, subtract expenses from it, and buy secondhand clothes to the point where I make even or a little bit of red (laughs).

Even if I don't wear it?

Westfield:Basically, I buy things because I want to wear them, but there are some things that I can't wear but want to keep.

South:Tapwater is the one that makes it possible to wear it. I wondered how I could wear it.

Westfield:As for this brand, it features things that have been lying dormant for a rather long time and can't be thrown away.

South:They would bring them to me and say, "This is what I'm looking for. We would look at it together and talk about how we should do it this way or that way (laughs). (Laughs) We keep the conversation in the same vein, or at least that's how we keep it.

Westfield:Oh, that's good!" I was like, "Oh, that's a good idea! Then, we had to create materials, and Mr. Minami's production background helped us to improve the quality of the item. The team was amazing. They can do anything.

South:Since he usually listens to my selfishness, he must think it is easy to do as much as Nishino's selfishness (laughs).

Westfield:I think so. I was told, "I can afford it" (laughs).

I heard that you released two types of pants last time, both of which were well received. Why do you think that is?

Westfield:I like vintage clothing and I am serious about it, but just by adding Minami's ideas and essence, a different kind of charm comes to the surface. So I really felt the high level of Mr. Minami's editing ability. I think that was a good thing.

South:NEET designs pants that are more like dress pants, don't you think? You have to do the lengthening and stuff like that. But there must be people who want casual pants, too. They don't need to be lengthened, and can be worn immediately after purchase.

Westfield:That may be true. Also, Tap Water has no MD plan at all. With collections, the lineup is designed with a sense of overall balance in mind. But we don't make clothes in that way, so we are purely having fun, and I think that's why we produce good things.

I see. The key word in the concept is "chest of drawers." Did you feel any sympathy for this concept?

South:That part is impossible to measure. The "fodder in the wardrobe" is just my subjective opinion. It was a project to make Nishino wear the old clothes he brought that he couldn't wear (laughs).

Westfield:(Laughter).

But when I saw the two types of pants released in the first round, I thought they were unlikely items.

Westfield:Both Mr. Minami and I like to squeeze into big pants. That's why we feel that we have a strong connection with our customers.

South:One of the pants we made this time was originally an innerwear item made for outdoor use, but we changed the pattern so that it can be worn alone. If they were bigger, people would want to wear them.

Westfield:It was made as outdoor gear for a good reason, so it can't be helped. But I have interpreted it as street wear from a fashion point of view.