【FOCUS IT.] Why a neat guy who started with pants for himself created a custom salon for his clients.

neat【 means] neat, tidy, well behaved

The word "neat" has such a meaning if you look it up in a dictionary. The brand name "NEAT" was created five years ago by Daishi Nishino, who specializes in pants, with the idea of "pants that look good even when worn with a T-shirt and sneakers.

The pants, tailored with meticulous fabrics and precisely calculated silhouettes, have evolved with each passing season and have captivated numerous fashion experts. The order salon "NEAT" is a place where you can order pants and accessories.neat houseopened on Wednesday, September 16.

However, I was told that the shop is by appointment only, that the address is not open to the public, and that even the Instagram account must be approved, which seemed a bit high for pants that fit any style. We wanted to know the true reason for this, so we directly interviewed Ms. Nishino and the store manager, Mr. Ishizaki.

Mr. Nishino, why did you decide on an orderly salon?"

The ideal style that could be drawn because it is a custom salon.

It has been five and a half years since you launched NEET. When did you have the idea for the store?

Nishino:That was about three years ago. But at that time, it was vague. It was just a feeling that it would be nice if we could eventually open a store.

What was your intention when you decided to make it a custom salon instead of a store?

Nishino: The main reason is that we wanted to deliver pants made of rare fabrics to our customers, just as we did when we started the brand. In the past, we only had a few clients that we could count on one hand, so the most we could sell was 50 pairs. That is why we could say, "We will sell a limited edition of 20," but that is not possible now. Even if you say it is limited, you have to prepare about 100 bottles.

Ishizaki:I haven't been able to use vintage ones for the last three seasons or so.

Nishino:It has been that long already. Of course, I am happy to have more clients, but I always had a dilemma that there was no way to deliver fabrics that I thought were good. In order to deliver them properly, I thought that an order salon style would be the best way to do so.

Dead stock denim fabric from Cone Mills, Inc. This may be the last time such a wide variety of coloring will be available.

The order salon is close to the image of the NEAT brand, like a good old-fashioned tailor. I am sure that customers will be happy to be able to get a piece in a size that fits them and in a rare fabric. Why did you decide to limit the number of customers to five per day, and not just by appointment?

Nishino: I could have had three or five groups, but I thought I could never have more than five groups. If you have 8 hours of business hours and an 8-group system, each person only has one hour, right? If for some reason you were to arrive late and there were only 30 minutes left, wouldn't you be in a great hurry? (Laughs) I didn't want a restaurant like that.

If you are going to order, there is nothing better than being able to relax.

Nishino: Yes. Also, I have been asked to stand in various stores at events more and more often, and I have noticed some things through these events. Thankfully, there are many people who come to the store as soon as it opens. However, this sometimes meant that they couldn't try on the garments in a relaxed atmosphere. Moreover, some people would arrive late and not be able to buy the items because they were sold out. I wanted to share the same time and space with customers while allowing them to relax, so that there would be no "first come, first served" type of thing.

There are so many things I want to propose," says Nishino, who is like a chef peering through his white teeth at the finest ingredients.

So, you have several years of experience with the brand, which naturally led you to the custom salon format. Did you have an image in mind when you opened Neat House?

Nishino: I work for Brooks Brothers, and Ishizaki comes from United Arrows. Both of us have classic tastes as our base, so I think we have created a space that represents our vision of what an "order salon" should be. You didn't have a specific image of "that store on Savile Row," did you?

Ishizaki: There wasn't one. It's like an imaginary tailor house. I think "Neat House" is the result of a mixture of various images.

I felt that "Neat House" is a very high hurdle to overcome, as it does not reveal its address and only visitors to the store can check its Instagram. Why is that?

Nishino: The threshold may be high, but we thought that if we did that, people who really wanted it would come.

Ishizaki: I also wanted to have a deeper relationship with my clients.

Nishino: Yes, yes. That feeling has grown stronger every year. Naturally, running a brand or a store has its ups and downs, but I think the only thing that can help you overcome hardships is how many customers you have who love you. When I visit local stores, I am reminded of this.

Ishizaki: It would never be possible without fans.

Nishino: Yes, really. I felt again that this way of thinking cannot be conveyed online, and that it is necessary to talk directly with them. It is important to make people think, "I want to buy from Nishino," or "I want to buy from Ishizaki because he is Ishizaki. I believe that a brand is not just about making and selling products, but also about people connecting with each other. I hope to increase the number of such people.

I am sure that these strong bonds will become the foundation of the store and the brand.

Nishino: We hope that many customers will come to our store, but first of all, we would be happy if more and more people make it a regular event to order pants from "NEAT" every season.

More detailed sizes and more than 100 fabrics are available.

Garment for exclusive use with pants, given to those who purchase pants. The canvas fabric allows the garment to change over time.

The handle is designed for easy carrying. The attention to detail in this area is truly typical of Mr. Nishino.

What is the biggest difference between "inline" and "nite house"?

Ishizaki: It's the size range. Until now, we have offered sizes 44, 46, and 48, but now we are adding sizes 45 and 47. This is what we call a "pattern order" system. We have developed a fine-tuned size range in order to match the customer's body shape.

Nishino: To be more precise, the pitch of ready-made items is 4 cm, but we have made it 2 cm. Even if you want to adjust the waist a little more, the silhouette will not be affected if you adjust the waist by 1 cm. We wanted to keep the default silhouette of "NEAT" as much as possible.

Ishizaki:Until now, if you chose one size larger, you would have to go 4 cm larger.

Nishino: Then it is quite large. The waist is an area of particular concern.

Ishizaki: One or two centimeters can make a big difference in whether you are hooked or not.

Nishino: I wonder what that is, it's strange (laughs). It's like the comfort and silhouette change just a little bit differently. It may change slightly after eating a meal, but we wanted to make sure that each customer was satisfied with the fitting.

Hundreds of rare fabrics. In addition to vintage fabrics, the store also stocks many fabrics from prestigious manufacturers such as TAYLOR&LODGE (U.K.) and LORO PIANA (Italy).

I would like to ask you about fabrics. The walls are lined with fabrics, how many kinds do you have in stock?

Ishizaki: There must be more than 100 kinds, right?

Nishino: That's about right. And there will be even more before it opens.

You have been releasing pants made of tent cloth and other rare fabrics for several years now.

Nishino:I didn't collect them in a vain attempt to collect them, but I would buy them when I found them. I had stocked tent cloths and vintage items for a long time, but they were not long enough to be mass-produced. Even if we could have, we only had five or so in stock.

Even if you can't mass-produce them, if you get a kick out of them, you'll buy them?

Nishino: It was really like that. In the past year, I had a plan for "Nieto House," so I just bought things. Even before that, I was acquiring items that I thought I could use at some point, or that I definitely wanted to have on hand. Even if they couldn't be made into pants, they could be used as a reference for making original fabrics. It might be the same as when a designer buys vintage clothes even though he can't wear them.

Ishizaki: If you look at it this way, it's quite a lot. One-third of the inline has original fabrics, but I'm thinking of dividing the "Neat House" by using only fabrics I've bought.

Nishino: Original works can be created down to the smallest detail, so I think there are advantages to both.

Which one do you have a special attachment to?

Nishino：I think it is the tent cloth, isn't it?　It is an item that has raised the brand's recognition, and I think it is one of the most representative items. If you ask older people, they say that there were items using tent cloth in the past, but in my opinion, it was an invention. When I discovered the tent cloth fabric, I thought, "It would be really cool to make these into pants.

The tent cloth pants were a shock to me. When I touched them, the fabric was as hard as moleskin. I was like, "What? It is interesting that you made slacks out of this fabric, and it is very Nishino-san-like.

Of course, we also stock the tent cloth fabric that Mr. Nishino has been praising.

NEET is Daishi Nishino.

NEET originally started when Mr. Nishino made a pair of pants that he wanted, didn't it?

Nishino: Yes, that's right. The first place I bought fabric was the co-op in the clothing school (laughs). (Laughs). Surplus fabrics were sold at low prices for students, and even the best fabrics were sold at very low prices. I used to go there once every three days (laughs).

Ishizaki: You are already a clothing student (laughs).

Nishino: It's really like that. It's like going to the co-op in the morning before going to work. The merchandise changes so rapidly that if you don't look at it often, it runs out quickly. After noon, the store is crowded with students, so I would try to get there during class time (laughs).

How did you go from making pants for yourself to creating a proper brand?

Nishino:When I was wearing the items I had made, people gradually started to say, "That's nice, make one for me, too. Then, a friend said to me, "Why don't you try holding an exhibition? I had been doing PR until then. I had been doing PR until then and didn't know how to do exhibitions or buyers, but there were a few people who said they wanted to see my work, so I decided to give it a try. At that time, I only did individual orders. And it was fabric I bought at a co-op (laughs).

Cap ¥4,800+tax each
In addition to caps, the salon will also offer suspenders, mules, and other items exclusive to the salon.

Did you decide to carry "Reshop" at that exhibition?

Nishino: No, Kaneko-san came to the exhibition after that. Leshop" has been handling our products since the 1st season, but actually there was a time before that.

It's like Season Zero, isn't it?

Nishino: Yes, that's right. At that time, there were 49 individual orders attached. But it was very difficult to make these 49 pieces. I went to the co-op with a lot of enthusiasm to make 49 bottles, but there was no fabric at all (laughs). (Laughs.) The dough that had been piled up just a few days before was nowhere to be found. Moreover, I had never made nearly 50 pieces before, so I wondered how I was going to make such a large number. Until then, I had had a pattern maker sew them for me, but when I asked him to do it, he couldn't do it. We held an exhibition, but we couldn't make it, and we were in such a hurry that we thought we were in trouble (laughs).

What happened after that?

Nishino: Then there were still twists and turns. One day, one of my friends who I was drinking with happened to work for an OEM company. He asked me, "Why don't you see if we can do it at our company? He said, "Can you do it? I was like, "You can do it? I was like, "Sure!

We were clinging to straws, weren't we? And without any fabric.

Nishino: That's right. We had to deliver the product in three months, so we didn't have much time, but they took care of it. They also introduced me to various fabric stores and helped me find similar fabrics, so I was able to make it. That was the beginning of "NEET.

In addition to your PR work at Nishinoya and your work as a designer for NEET, you are now working with Mr. Kaneko and Mr. Oshima on Weekend, and your activities are expanding rapidly. What is the one thing that has not changed as your other channels have increased and your brand has become more mature?

Nishino:Regardless of whether I am able to embody it or not, my desire to provide good products to the customers in front of me has not changed over the years, no matter what kind of work I do.

Also, what kind of existence does "NEET" have for you?

Nishino: When I was asked something like, "What are the three elements that make up a "NEET?" I answered "Daishi Nishino" as one of them. I was only half joking at the time, but for some reason, people around me said, "I totally understand.

Although I started the brand under the name "NEAT," I never thought of it as a "business" at all. That's why it's pretty simple. If I were to start a brand, I would create a logo, take pictures of the look, create a lineup like this, and have the kind of people at the kind of stores I want to buy my clothes. I think you are supposed to have such a vision, but we stubbornly refused to do so, and one or two years passed, and here we are today.

Basically, my stance is to create only what I think is good. I have not changed my mindset, but on the other hand, the way I make things changes depending on the position I am in or the way a brand is viewed. After all, I am only human, and what I like changes from time to time. What I didn't like last year may look really cool this year. I hope that the image of "NEET" will change as well as myself, while incorporating the image of "NEET" that people around me think of. So I think it was not a mistake to say that "NEET" = Nishino.