Resume of Style. Hisao Saito #12

TUBE first had an atelier in Harajuku, and in 1984 moved to its current location in Minami-Aoyama and opened a shop there. As the company continued to grow, the number of brands increased, including KENGUN, French Line, HISAO SAITO, and His TUBE. Roughly speaking, the brands were divided into those that incorporated the moods of English-speaking countries and others, that is, French casual and Italian casual. Daily Artwork, a socks and T-shirt brand, made plain pack T-shirts using high-quality Indian cotton, which sold well. They are common now, but no one did at the time. But soon after, they were copied by various other brands (laughs). By the mid-1980s, the brand had wholesale customers in about 40 stores, and Yukihiro's Bricks mono boutique also carried the brand.

In 1986, I started making catalogs for the brand. At first, I was assisted by Takeshi Matsuyama and Kotetsu Yamamoto (editors), and then I started working with Suke-chan (Tomoki Yumeji, stylist and fashion director). Suke-chan and I decided to take photos in places we'd never been before, and we took photos in places like Helsinki, Vietnam, and Prague. In addition to the catalogs, the company's sales staff told me, "The clothes you wear will sell," so I started appearing in magazines wearing the company's clothes. I didn't really want to appear in them because I prefer the backstage aspect, but I did it reluctantly.