Fashion
April 13, 2015
ONE GRAVITY Designer Hiroki Inomata: Second Interview
“ONE GRAVITY” Designer
Hiroki Inomata Interview Part 2
This is the second part of our interview with Hiroki Inomata, the designer of “ONE GRAVITY,” where he discusses the brand's launch, his thoughts on the digitalization of fashion, and his design process.
By Hitoshi Kaneko (This Magazine)
—Even in smaller cities these days, major select shops have a presence. It’s hard to compete with them, isn't it?
That's right. But back then, it was an amazing era when clothes sold well in a city with a population of only about 300,000. What I realized then was,a smaller population meant we could engage with customers within a more manageable scope—that's what it meant.
—So, it's about creating a kind of community, isn't it?
Exactly. But that's something you can't do in a major city. And certainly not with multiple stores.
—The method of creating a community and circulating money within it is, in music, what you might call enka. But perhaps that's the fundamental form of business.
Now, we've moved beyond that to a situation where clothes can be bought and sold online. From a creator's perspective, how do you view this internetization—this so-called digitalization?
Your brand, “ONE GRAVITY,” doesn't have a website, nor do you sell products online.
The act of buying something,is driven by resonance with the joy or emotion that the item evokes, and only then do you want it.For those who value things like 'someone else wore it,' the internet can be a great tool. But unfortunately,the value of the item itself isn't conveyed—you can't touch it, and the colors are likely different from the real thing. In that sense, I don't really understand the act of buying clothes online.
For genres other than clothing, there are many things where that style is fine. But for me, it feels like people are abandoning the joy of experiencing the texture themselves. Therefore,I believe buying clothes online is fundamentally different from the act of buying clothes in a store.People who can find enjoyment in those different aspects can probably buy clothes online.
Perhaps this is a difference in generational values.
—Places like Ameyoko in Ueno have so many things, right? I used to often go there intending to buy something specific, but end up buying something else entirely. However, I feel like that happens less with online shopping. While I do feel this in physical stores too, I'm not sure if it's due to reduced disposable income, but it feels like that culture itself is disappearing.
The situation is similar everywhere you go, a so-calledhomogenization—that's probably part of it.
I think there are fewer items in stores that make you think, 'This is wonderful!' and then 'I have to buy it!' when you weren't initially looking for it. You find similar items, or even the exact same product from the same brand, everywhere you go, don't you?
—It feels like a waste, doesn't it?
It is a waste! But from a business perspective, as you move from stocking purchased items to creating your own originals and that becomes successful, you reduce inventory and increase originals to improve profit margins. Since highly avant-garde designs don't sell in large quantities, there's a situation where more mass-produced items sell better.
In that case, if you're producing or adding to items on a cycle of about one month from the start of the season, then Company A and Company B will inevitably try to make the same thing. This means the products displayed in stores will naturally be similar. Conversely, if they're not similar, they'll be considered out of fashion.
—In the past, stores sold different things, so you knew you could find certain items at specific places. I'm not being negative, but I wonder if the situation will change again in the future.
Now, regarding clothing design, how do you proceed with it?
While the actual creation of the form is done with a pattern maker, it's basicallyjust a verbal exchange.
—Does the pattern maker create a rough sketch, and you say, 'Let's do this part like this,' is that the method?
Yes. I state my wishes, and they work towards approximating them. This applies to creating the form, as well as processing the materials and finished products. In essence, it'sjust a catch-and-throw of ideas.
I'm the one who throws the initial ball, and then the production side has receivers, and they take it from there.
The reason we can do this is, first and foremost, that I'm not having patterns made by someone I just met yesterday. And our sewing factories and processing partners are also places we've had long-standing relationships with, and they work there. It's a scale where we don't need to work in an assembly-line fashion,I want to work within a scope I can oversee—so we're able to work this way.
If we had a large staff and couldn't communicate individually, we would naturally have to create detailed rough sketches and so on.
