First, I would like to ask about your background. When did you leave your hometown of Hiroshima to move to Tokyo?

When I was twenty. After graduating high school, I found a job. Two years later, I left that company and went to Tokyo to enter Bunka Fashion College.

To quit your job to enroll in Bunka Fashion College—would you say that you had a strong interest in fashion originally?

You could say so. From junior and senior high school, I always loved clothes. I wanted to enroll in a fashion school directly after high school graduation but my mother, who used to operate a now-closed boutique, was strongly opposed, telling me that it’s difficult to produce clothes, and that I had no idea of what reality is. So, I decided to work for an electrical construction company to see what the world was like. There, I was placed in the division that made buildings, and I thought it would be nice if I could do something like lighting design. Before I started work, I thought that I could do anything that had the word design attached to it, but reality was not that simple. Even saying that we were making just a building, that building’s area was so enormous. To design the lighting for a single floor, I needed to consider how to line the lights on the huge ceiling, how many centimeters above the floor should I place the switches, and at the same time I needed to consider where to place the wires for them. For me, to repeat that over and over for numerous floors felt overwhelming, and made me realize I’m not a genius. It was a huge shock to me, but once I got a hold of myself, if I were to take clothing as a single structure, it’s so much smaller than one building. I could design within my own category of vision, and the time needed for creation was especially short when compared to a building. Instead of creating buildings, if it was this small thing called clothes, then even someone as average as myself could do it. From that vague thought, I once again explained to my mother that I actually wanted to make clothes, and she somewhat supported me from that point onward.

Outside of fashion, could you tell us about what other cultures that influenced you afterward, such as music and art?

I’d definitely say music, like punk rock and new wave. My older cousin taught me many things and I started listening in sixth grade, or my first year in junior high. I feel that the clothes and styles I saw in those scenes were the spark to light my interest in fashion.

Are these influences still reflected in your current ideas?

In various ways. For example, the Worlds End that I am wearing today is influenced in the second or third degree by those interests.

I borrowed old magazines and I found out about the hip-hop unit, TINNIE PUNX, that Hiroshi Fujiwara and Kan Takagi were in, and honestly, though I was never directly excited by seeing the Sex Pistols wearing SEDITIONAIRES, the combination of bondage pants and Adidas jerseys that Hiroshi and Kan coordinated so effortlessly had a big impact on me even as a child. It was so much freer than the predetermined styles that punk is punk, and high fashion is high fashion. And, even more than just enjoying the mix-up, I think from that point onward my habit of choosing clothing by infusing my feelings and essence of the situation began to take root.

I’ve heard that as a brand PHINGERIN started with pajamas. Could you tell us more about the circumstances of how you established the brand?

Before I even got to the point of my decision to make pajamas, I already had a strong desire within myself to make a “brand”. I felt that in the countless brands in the world, they existed in two broad categories: “real brands” and “something that looks like a brand”, and I wanted to make a real brand. So when I researched what a “brand” is, I found out that it had its roots in branding, where farmers burned their mark onto the cattle and pigs they owned. Branding isn’t great for the animals, but the roots were there, as a mark of the quality of the efforts they poured into raising their livestock, they branded the animals with their mark. That act of branding then developed into trademarks and other marks, and then turned into the tags and logos on apparel today. In other words, what I mean by wanting to make a real brand is to face myself and create things that I can deliver with the confidence that I will not disappoint my customers. I think logos are put on things because you have confidence in them. Even now, I believe that this order should never be mistaken. I didn’t want to make something first based on a logo, but the clothes comprising it were unexpectedly mediocre or were an imitation of something. The construction of the clothes or their quality is not the only issue, I feel that it’s cool if the maker’s attitude and identity are put into it, and that’s what I consider a real brand. I’ve chosen my clothing from junior high onward from this point of view, and if I were to make a brand, I want to make things that I could brand with conviction as my own.

That was pajamas?

In clothing, there are so many varieties, jackets, pants, shoes, accessories, and if I were to try to make all of them as a brand, it would exceed my capabilities—just like the buildings I spoke of before—and since I wouldn’t be able to see everything then the brand would be weak, and become “something that looks like a brand”. Settling upon a single item that had room for improvement yet I could reflect my category of originality—what I ended up arriving at from these thoughts was the pajama. At the time, I thought that made-to-order suits that fit to the body were cool, but they are difficult for ready-to-wear. But, I could have a some leeway if it were loose fitting pajamas, and there were not be any loss in value. Moreover, the design of pajamas hasn’t really changed much from the past. I would be particular about their comfort when worn, and applying details that would suit modern lifestyles, I decided to make pajamas in the fabric and construction I thought was good. To be honest, when I was a child I had surgery on my stomach, and before I left for Tokyo when I was 20 years old, I was hospitalized for around two months, so I thought I could also utilize the ideas I gained from those experiences. Pajamas were one thing that I could combine all the various elements of myself.