If the second wave is about tradition and history, and the third wave is about tasteful global luxury, the fourth wave is about unique, singular attitudes toward making and wearing clothes. The brands are powered by personal nuance—by nuanced personalities—above all else. They lean into their obsessions, they turn hobbies into products, and they feel designed to appeal to the few. And if one thing is certain in the current, mass-individual menswear moment, it’s that success starts with a niche. The smaller the better.
Courtesy of T.T
Courtesy of T.T
A.Presse may still be relatively small at the moment, but it isn’t likely to stay that way for long. The brand, founded and designed by Kazuma Shigematsu, is what happens when a meticulous vintage collector goes rogue and turns all of his very best pieces into exquisitely crafted super garments. I met Shigematsu in Paris back in June and was astounded by how much design and development he packed into such an unassuming collection—there’s enough silk, cashmere and suede to make an Hermés store blush. A.Presse is currently being sold in a handful of stores outside of Japan, and will receive a proper American launch at Union on October 26 and 27.
In a similar vein, Taiga Takahashi makes old-timey clothes that somehow feel exceptionally modern, processed through the lens of an erudite young designer—a very difficult move to pull off. Tragically, the label’s namesake Taiga Hashi died in 2022 at just 27. But the label he started in 2017— shortly after graduating from the prestigious Central Saint Martins fashion program in London—lives on, run by his studio and family.
Courtesy of Tightbooth
Courtesy of Tightbooth
Unlikely Dry Goods might be the most quintessential fourth wave Japanese brand of them all. Designed by Shinsuke Nakata, former creative director of Beams Plus and founder of the tech outdoors label Daiwa Pier39, Unlikely is a brand with a strong personality, much like its charismatic designer. Nakata is a master of mashing different strains of Americana together in novel ways. Outside of Japan, you can order Unlikely on sites like Coverchord, but next month the brand is hosting a pop-up at Nepenthes New York starting on November 8.
This extremely personal approach—letting the unique personality and interests of the designer or the director guide the brand direction—is the new twist here. These brands are fitting into the global good-taste hegemony or dutifully re-creating well-made garms of bygone eras. They’re guided by good vibes and enthusiasm. Setinn is another great example of this. Designed by Shingo Arai, Beams’ men’s casual buyer, Setinn is a tennis apparel brand based on the ‘90s glory days of big-player fits on and off the court. Tightbooth, which was started as a crew with Japanese skate legend Shinpei Ueno and friends back in 2005, applies a very modern Japanese street-style aesthetic—huge pants, graphic prints, irreverent tailoring—to the relatively static world of skate clothing. And Creek Angler’s Device, which just recently dipped its first toe into international waters with a brief pop-up at Blue in Green, is a streetwear brand disguised as a fly-fishing brand. Or a fly-fishing brand disguised as a streetwear brand. But while most people have never heard of the secretive operation outside of Japan, it still sells out of every product it drops almost instantly. I also have my eye on a couple nano brands that have a very slow and careful approach to making ordinary-looking clothes extraordinary: namely Brochure, by SSZ director Katoh Tadayuki, and Cup & Cone.
Courtesy of Setinn
Courtesy of Setinn
What’s changed in recent years for any Japanese brand is that the price of the yen has fallen significantly relative to the dollar. And the Japanese economy broadly, as I understand it, is struggling. This means more Japanese businesses are looking outside of Japan in ways that they didn’t—or didn’t have to—before. (In case you haven’t noticed, now is a great time to go to Japan and buy, for instance, a Rolex. Or a car.) I’m not an economist, so I can’t say for sure, but it seems obvious that ambitious brands like A.Presse will continue to push hard into the global fashion market. Niche labels like Unlikely and Creek, meanwhile, will find their own international opportunities to grow and sustain while things are slow at home. Fortunately for all of them, the yen may be down, but the Japanese Brand is as strong as ever.
So what does this new wave of brands from Japan tell us about the future of menswear? I think we’re nearing a point of exhaustion for the global megabrand, the brand that does it all for everyone, the brand that has many faces but no personality. Specificity, enthusiasm, obsessiveness—these are the qualities that people are connecting with right now. And these are human qualities. Things that individuals can project onto clothes, that shoppers can then absorb and make part of their world. Whether or not you’re into fly fishing or skateboarding is besides the point. Within these niches there are subcultures. And within subcultures, style flourishes.
