Whether it's fashion, music, or sports, there is a style that only each person can have in any genre. "Style is Everything." That's right, someone said that style is everything. "Style Resume" is a series of interviews with adults who literally have style. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the 11th installment featured guest Hiroshi Okamoto, known as the founder of Toys McCoy. Please join us for all 13 installments in July.
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13. If you pursue your desire for the real thing, you can surpass the real thing.
Around 2001, The Real McCoy's went bankrupt, and my company took on some of the company's employees and began manufacturing clothes. I had wanted to get back into clothing, so it was good timing, but I had suffered heavy losses from my previous involvement with The Real McCoy's, so it was a difficult time. When I started making clothes again, I felt joyful, like returning to my roots, to be able to make something that I was satisfied with again. Since then, I have continued to do so without changing this style or small scale.
Currently, the company is headed by Namikawa (Yusuke, CEO of Toys McCoy Product Ltd.), and I'm thinking about taking my time and spending one to two years on each piece of clothing. It's an effort to maintain a certain status and the joy that comes from owning it.
The current situation is that we are somehow managing to make better products in an era where factories are aging and leather supplies are unstable. This may sound bleak, but I hear things like, "We found this sewing factory," or "That factory stepped up," and I think that's what's saving us. There are young people in factories who are passionate about it, too. What I'm doing is something I started as an amateur driven by a desire for material things, but with the cooperation of many people, I've recently come to believe that if we keep at it and keep trying, we can surpass the real thing.
Profile
Hiroshi Okamoto (Chairman of Toys McCoy)
Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 1953, he started his career as an illustrator and founded the military and motorcycle-based apparel brand TOYS McCOY in 1996. He is known as a true Steve McQueen fan and motorcycle rider, and has participated in races on vintage Harley Davidson and Triumph bikes. He currently spends his days working on manufacturing as the chairman of TOYS McCOY.
Homepage http://www.toys-mccoy.com
