Resume of Style. Hisao Saito #09

When I left the company and started the planning company "Duploman", Teijin, Nisshinbo, and a weaver all signed a one-year contract with me, even though I hadn't done anything. I earned about 6.5 million yen by doing one or two jobs, and I thought, "This is much better than staying at a company." Teijin asked me, "We're launching a brand called Mitsumine Sports, so can you help with the planning?", so I accepted. It was a job worth 12 million yen. It was on a large scale because it was Teijin.

I persuaded a classmate in Durban to quit his job and hired him, and the two of us earned 50 million yen a year with just paper and pencil. At that time, we took about two weeks off twice a year and went on shopping trips to America and Europe together. We often shopped at "Barbas" in Italy, and the president of the store said, "One of our designers will be making his debut soon," and that was Giorgio Armani. This was in 1975.

Around the same time, I learned that Italy was also a European clothing production center. The clothes sold at famous fashion houses, high-end department stores, and high-end clothing stores were made in Italy. Also, small and medium-sized companies in Italy were developing various sewing machines. I was surprised to see that they had made it possible to do hand stitching with a sewing machine. Italian manufacturing is still amazing. They make things simply and well, and they also invest in capital and human resources. That's completely different from Japan.