【FOCUS IT.] White Mountaineering BLK is back after a 10-year absence.

After 10 years, a restart has been announced.White MountaineeringBLK" is a high-spec line of "BLK" from the "BLK" brand. However, it is not a mere reissue, but rather a 180-degree difference in look and philosophy from the previous version.

The event starts today, Wednesday, October 28.pop-up eventBefore the "BLK" exhibition, we interviewed the designer, Yosuke Aizawa, about the background to the "BLK" reboot, changes over the past 10 years, and his thoughts on patternmaking.

BLK has evolved over the past 10 years.

How did you start the "BLK" brand, which was launched in the 2009 Spring/Summer collection?

White Mountaineering" (hereinafter referred to as "White") has not changed its concept up to now, and has always been to incorporate outdoor specs into fashion. After several years of working with the brand, the concept has become more and more recognized.

Now we wanted people to know that we could make clothes with professional specs comparable to those of outdoor brands. That is how "BLK" was born. I was also interested in backcountry skiing, and I wanted to prove that I could do both.

It was not simply a black line, but "BLK" expressed a different view of the world from "White.

Yes, that's right. We have been doing business with GORE-TEX since the start of "WHITE" and at that time, we were developing fabrics together. At "WHITE" we did not work with nylon-like fabrics, but instead used wool and cotton canvas. On the other hand, BLK was divided into nylon and pro-shell fabrics.

What was the reason for the pause in the 2011 Fall-Winter collection?

When we started doing shows at the Tokyo Collections, we decided to integrate the elements of "BLK" into "White" in order to promote "White" to the world, so we suspended the show.

So that is the foundation of the current "White. And now, after 10 years, you have restarted the project. What made you decide to do "BLK" again?

At Pitti in Italy, long-established factory brands are becoming more and more oriented toward outdoor wear and real clothes. Seeing this trend up close, I thought it would be interesting to do something like that ourselves. I thought it would be interesting to make lapel jackets out of wrinkle-free tech material, add padding, and create a solid finish.

. The same name "BLK" has a completely different meaning this time than it did 10 years ago, doesn't it?

In the past, I wanted to make clothes comparable to outdoor brands, but this time it was the complete opposite. I wanted to change the target to everyday wear and express it only in black. . Clothes that could be worn to press conferences and receptions.

The new concept presented this time is "BLACK LAYER KNOWLEDGE". Has your view of black changed in your 10 years of experience?

. I simply only wear black clothes these days. I used to wear only striped shirts, and as I got older, everyone started wearing only black (laughs). The same is true for Daito Manabe and Ichiro Yamaguchi of Sakanaction, and as they reach their 30s, they all start to wear black.

I wanted to create a flow of communication to the buyers by condensing our skills and designs as close to their own eyes as possible. . I knew that even if it was all black, if we combined patternmaking and high-spec materials, we would be able to create something good.

Generating Communication
Patternmaking.

The patterns are interesting, aren't they? Even a single shirt has neither set-in nor raglan shoulders, and the pattern-making does not conform to any theories. Is this something that comes from your 10 years of experience?

I am not a pattern maker, but through my experience I have come to understand what clothes are comfortable to wear and easy to move in. This was largely due to the influence of European snowboarding wear. In Japan and the U.S., snowboarding clothes are usually oversized. This is what is called "street" or "freestyle. However, Europe has a strong ski culture, so the silhouettes are tight and not bulky. When I was backcountry skiing, I once walked for hours to the Arctic Circle wearing such clothes, and even though they were tight, they were very easy to move in. I wondered what was the reason for this, and I found out that there were no joints in the pattern transitions and stretches, etc. This became the basis of the pattern for this project. That became the basis of the pattern for this project.

Each item has a clothing pattern printed on the lining and tag, right? What was the idea behind this?

I have been in the fashion industry for many years and have had many different jobs, but I have never been a salesperson. I got to sell overseas, but I can't explain directly to customers what I made myself. . So I made it so that I could explain the clothes we made in the clothing.

. It looks like a blueprint or a development plan, and it's fun just to look at it.

Clothing doesn't have much information on where it comes from or what it is made of, like food does. If it were food, I would look at the back to see if anything bad for my health is in it. Also, I like cars and watches, so I can look at the specs all day long, but I don't see that with clothes. I felt uncomfortable choosing clothes based on a certain atmosphere and trend. . I dropped patterns, which could be called raw materials, into the clothes and opened them up. . I hope that the lining and tags will also serve as a communication tool between the store staff and the customers.

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A pop-up event will be held at Isetan Shinjuku Men's Building from October 28 (Wed.) to November 10 (Sun.), 2010, with the collaboration items of "BLK" and "Briefing" being released in advance of the launch of the Spring/Summer 2021 collection. Please come and see for yourself the space where the "knowledge of layering black" is beautifully expressed.