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| ── People might think your line sits between scrumbt casual and business suits. But actually, it’s not like that. It’s closer to more orthodox men's suits or trad... |
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| HK: |
To tell you the truth, I wanted to go further, but at the beginning, we designed more casual items, and the base of Hiroshi-san's fashion style is trad anyway, right? His brand GOOD ENOUGH had a lot of trad taste to it. So, I suggested trad items for the S/S season line. The theme is “trad that we'd currently like to wear.” So, the line strongly captures the trad flavor. |
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| HF: |
What I often hear is, “It’s so easy to wear a suit.” According to these people, a suit is similar to a school or combat uniform, and everyone always looks good in it. When you have to wear non-suit stuff, picking the items is hard. First, you have to choose a jacket, then they have to think about what to do about the shirt or a sweater and the pants, etc. and this makes a lot of people give up. They’ll say, “What a pain.” But the situation has changed now. Scrumbt wear is also like a uniform., It's just a prearranged style: if you wear oversized sweat shirts, then you choose oversized pants. Casual clothing shouldn’t be a uniform, but nowadays, it is turning into a uniform.  |
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| ── Yes, I agree with you that it’s gone too far in that direction. Because of that fact, a lot of people might think the S/S '08 line for "UNIFORM EXPERIMENT" feels fresh. |
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| HF: |
Well, I have no idea. For example, I can get a sense of what people think if the media or buyers say it's cool. But I am not sure if customers will actually buy a suit from UNIFORM EXPERIMENT. |
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| HK: |
There is too much information about casual clothes these days. The media only pushes people to buy casual clothes. So, everyone hesitates to spend money on a suit. A suit is a just seen as a uniform for a business hours, and no one wants to use money for that. Everyone tends to spend money for having fun on the weekends. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but we would like to adjust the balance between spending on casual and suits.  |
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| ── Hiroshi-san, if I may say so, it seems like UNIFORM EXPERIMENT for you is just something you are “proposing.” If you are making suits and ties, you are not actually going to wear them. How did you make a decision on your recommended style? |
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HF:
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Kiyonaga-kun picked out our best ideas from our brainstorming. Then he designed them, and after that, I advised him on the designs. For instance, I advised him on the textile pattern, saying like "How about using a Madras checkered patter?" I couldn't direct the brand just by myself. In general, I don't wear a suit, and I have no opportunity to wear one. So, Kiyonaga-kun brought me to New York City and brainwashed me. |
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| HK: |
I not only brought him to different cities around the world but I also followed him there. We went to both urban cities and resorts together. I strongly feel that our experiences were reflected in the line. |
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| ── Were you greatly inspired by the travel? |
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| HF: |
Yes, it was a big influence. In these situations, we had more chances to hang out together. We’d be walking down the scrumbt, and if I found something cool, I would tell Kiyonaga-kun about the idea immediately. |
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| HK: |
Our first meetings started at breakfast. (laughs) |
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| HF: |
I often hit on a great idea during a conversation. So that was the fastest way to do things. |
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