Style Resume Saito Hisao #05

Gama (Muramatsu Shusaku, fashion designer and doll maker, now deceased), who was a classmate of mine at vocational school, and another friend were going to Paris after graduation to pick up various ideas there. I was going to set up routes for fabrics and sewing in Tokyo, and we were talking about eventually starting a brand together. So I got a job at Mitsuboshi Clothing in Kanda, but I came back from Hawaii on March 31st and my first day at work was April 1st. I fell asleep and didn't get to work until after 1:30pm (laughs).

At that time, Mitsuboshi Clothing was the second largest company in Japan, producing hundreds of thousands of cheap pants for mass retailers such as Ito-Yokado and Seiyu. Well, they were a subcontractor. They produced such a huge amount that textile manufacturers and trading companies such as Teijin, Toray, Nisshinbo, Kurabo, Toyobo, Itochu, and Marubeni all came to work. The managing director liked shogi, so the people in charge of each company would come and play shogi every day, saying, "Mr. Managing Director, let's play shogi." I was thinking of quitting this company after three days, but my boss was a really nice person and stopped me, even though I was a cocky person, saying, "You can learn a lot here." I played every day after work, so I was late or absent for about 120 days. That's terrible (laughs).

I was assigned to the newly established "Planning Department" where product planning was carried out. However, I hadn't studied at all at school, so I couldn't even draw design drawings. I had no choice but to copy other people's designs.