If you’re into good clothes, Japan is a great place to be. There are probably more heritage wear stores in this country than everywhere else in the world combined. The Clutch Collection Yokohama Show, held last week for three days, was another perfect example of Japan’s position in the world of fashion.
The show was co-organized by Clutch Magazine and Men’s File, which guaranteed an amazing curation of brands. And the whole thing was backed by the city of Yokohama, hence the venue (breathtaking), and the ministry of tourism via its project Cool Japan, aiming at boosting tourism in Japan in order to support the country’s efforts to revive the economy.
We had the chance to walk through the 85 booths, with the must-see titan brands like Iron Heart, The Real McCoy’s, Red Wing, and Schott but also exciting new or smaller brands like Muller & Bros, Fleurs de Bagne, Dehen, and Comfy.
Muller and Bros
Creative directed by French Tokyo based vintage expert Stephane Muller, and produced at the Nap Inc. factory in the mountains of Okayama, Muller and Bros. makes ’40s inspired pieces from small accessories and shoes to jeans and leather jackets.
Fleurs de Bagne
Very promising brand, Fleurs de Bagne is from South France and the key images of its universe are prisons, bandits, work camps, French military heroes, and sailor tattoos. Each piece has a very clear and precise historical background referring to key characters or events of French history, all 100% made in France with old world techniques.
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Full Count & Co.
Full Count was introducing the concept behind their F/W collection, MAKE YOUR OWN JEANS, insisting on the idea that, according to their promotional pamphlet, “the most attracting property of jeans is that everyone wears them a certain way depending on their lifestyle, always creating something unique”.
Brown’s Beach
Created in Massachusetts in 1901, the strength of Brown’s Beach Jacket is in its fabric. Developed by one Mr. Brown over a century ago, their Beach Cloth mixes 27% cotton and 73% wool. The brand fell into obscurity with the introduction of synthetic fabrics in the ’60s, and was only recently brought back to life by Full Count.
Iron Heart
With an entire denim jeans wall and a Harley Davidson in the middle of the booth, heavyweight specialist motorcycle focused brand Iron Heart demonstrated once more they’re not fooling around.
Burgus Plus
Our friends from Ueno, Burgus Plus, introduced their new collection.
Sugar Cane and Mister Freedom
Sugar Cane and Mister Freedom were both present at a huge booth designed with fake red bricks to evoke Christophe Loiron’s shop in LA. Contrasting with his S/S Rock’n’Roll flash collection, Mister Freedom is going all blue and green with inspirations from ’50s French Indochina for F/W.
The Real McCoy’s
Military inspired brand The Real McCoy’s was showcasing their classics and also had a Buco corner with more motorcycle focused garments.
If you want to see more photos from Clutch Collection, check us at @heddels on Instagram and have a look at the official hashtag #clutchccshow on SNS.
