Resume of Style. Hisao Saito #13

I became the director of MEN'S BIGI in 1993, but actually, Take-sensei had been asked to do it once before the end of his time at MEN'S BIGI. At that time, I had heard that Take-sensei was extremely busy before the show and that it was difficult for those around him, so I told him that it was no good and he said, "Then Saito-kun, please do it." Of course I turned it down then, and I was going to turn it down this time too, but the people on the scene came to me and I decided to take it on.

Initially, it was just a design contract, but after looking around the company for about three months, I realized that design wasn't what would revive the brand, so I decided to take on the role of director rather than a design contract, in order to do something new while still maintaining the positive image that MEN'S BIGI has cultivated since long ago.

As we were trying to revive the company by reducing costs, properly allocating staff, and streamlining the brand, Terry Ito asked me to do a show with my brand on "Asayaan" (TV Tokyo's "Asakusabashi Young Clothing Store," which Terry Ito directed. Later, it became "ASAYAN"). I didn't want to do it with my own brand, so I turned him down, but he said, "Well, how about Menbigi?" So I decided to do it. I thought, "It's fine if it's someone else's brand (laughs). That influenced me to think, "Menbigi is good, isn't it?" Around the same time, we also introduced imported items to the sales floor, which also had a positive effect.