PROFILE
He and his brother Seiji, who is of Japanese descent and was born in Denmark, are the founders of the fashion brand "The Inouye Brothers," which distributes alpaca products, a traditional industry of the Andes region in Peru, South America, to the world using sustainable methods. . This year, he left Denmark, where he was born and raised, and moved to Okinawa Prefecture.
PROFILE
After training at a long-established tailor in Marunouchi, he joined a Paris Collection brand as a patterner and later became an independent designer, becoming the designer of "Quon" in the 2016 S/S season. Under the concept of "What is new may become old, but what is beautiful will always be beautiful," he uses Japonism design and traditional materials and techniques such as rags and sashiko in a modern way.
It all started with a tattoo on his chest.
There are many questions we would like to ask you about items and sustainability, but we would like to start by asking you about how you got started. I heard that Mr. Horie of "Wism" played matchmaker for you?
Satoshi "The Inouye Brothers" Satoshi (Satoshi):When I was in Copenhagen (Denmark), I happened to be looking at Ryu Horike's Instagram, and I saw an Instagram of "Quon. Actually, my brother and I have the word "Quon" tattooed on our chests, which means "forever old. We got it when we were 18 years old, as brothers who were born and raised together for a long time, and as brothers forever. That is why I was so surprised when I first saw the brand "Quon. . Then, I asked Mr. Ryu to connect us, and I passionately told him that I wanted to do something together.
Quon Ishibashi (hereafter Ishibashi):At that time, I was working with "Wism" on a project, and in connection with that, you saw my interview with Mr. Horike on your Instagram. Our company, "Quon," is also doing what we do under the slogan of making good products for a long time to come, meaning a long time in the past and a long time in the future. That's why they were so sympathetic to our concept.
Satoshi:We call ourselves a social design company before making clothes, and our main mission is to execute social projects. After that, we started going to South America and met alpacas, which is why we started our knitwear brand, in that order, but there is something that has been troubling me lately.... Recently, upcycling has been talked about a lot, and I really like the concept and the idea itself, but when I look at the finished products, I see that in many cases, the value has been reduced by upcycling, and the originals are better. However, when I saw the collection of "Quon," I instantly fell in love with it, thinking that if we could collaborate together, it would raise the value of our products.
What did you think of Quon when you were approached by The Inouye Brothers?
Stone bridge:We started with vintage rags, and we are working with the "Otsuchi Reconstruction Sashiko Project" in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, to repair them as a form of reconstruction assistance. In this regard, we thought it was wonderful that you went to Peru to talk directly with craftsmen like the Inouye Brothers, and that you made and delivered clothes that were made with no falsehoods. So we were extremely happy when we heard about the project, and when we met them, we thought that they were just as passionate as we had imagined (laughs). (Laughs.) But it is precisely because of their passion that they are able to create this kind of product, and I also felt that they value the connections between people very highly.
Stone bridge:On the other hand, we think "cool" is the best. When we discussed with Satoshi and his colleagues what kind of things we should make, they said, "You can make whatever you like. We just want to make the coolest thing that no one else has. So I was very motivated. We were very happy that he gave us the knitwear that had been carefully made by the Inouye Brothers and allowed us to make it freely.
Satoshi:The value of taking good care of things is a kind of philosophy that we share with each other's brands, so it was one of the reasons why we wanted to work together, but at first it was more like.... . I would never do anything with them. I was like, "We definitely have to do something together, don't we? If they had refused, I would have kept asking.
The Inouye Brothers provided the alpaca knit fabric for this project, and Quon was in charge of design and production, and upcycling. How did you feel when you saw the finished items?
Satoshi:Actually, I saw the actual product for the first time today (the day of the interview), but even before it was finished, I knew it was going to be amazing, and I got goosebumps seeing something like this after a long time. I haven't been able to get excited about clothes recently.... . I was wondering what would happen to the fashion industry in the future. But seeing this today cheered me up immensely, and I feel that I have achieved something beyond what I had imagined.
Stone bridge:I think I visited the exhibition for about three seasons from the time I was approached to the completion of the product. Each time, drinks were served (laughs), and we talked about many things. Satoshi came to the store, and I asked him to take the rags home with him, etc. Perhaps it was good that we made this after we had first deepened communication with each other.
