Just 10 days ago, Yusuke Takahashi launched an innovative personalization function for CFCL. For the moment, it’s a women-only service that lets customers order a chosen silhouette from a dozen or so shapes and then customize color combinations. But the brand landed 50 orders straight out of the gate.
“It was panic on the floor,” the designer allowed. “Since we do everything ourselves, we have the freedom to make pieces on demand, but it’s time-consuming. The programming alone takes maybe 10 days.”
It may be a big shift from a 100-piece minimum, but it also reflects a sea change in how customers want to relate to fashion. As a result, the CFCL factory is in expansion mode.
“People really like playing with color,” Takahashi noted during a showroom visit for the spring menswear collection which, while not available yet for customization, presented a more mature offer specifically with regard to office-appropriate attire.
To that end, the designer engineered a few looks that neatly blended CFCL’s cutting-edge approach to knitwear with Japanese artisanal tradition, notably in a brown and navy tie-dye inspired by shibori. Weaves combined navy and black, or mottled gray and white, on trousers with a straight cut and the ease of an elasticated waist. Summery open weave shirts in cotton and recycled polyester had a dry hand and varied transparency in front and back; one blend based on washi—Japanese paper—and recycled polyester had a crunchier effect that nonetheless felt soft to the touch.
Amid a classic lineup in black, navy, and khaki, shades of light pink and blue changed things up a notch, a bid by CFCL to make dressing more playful, if only by degrees. “I wish Japanese men would loosen up a bit,” the designer noted. Only time will tell if Japanese office culture—the creative class aside—will accept shorts on men of a certain age and professional profile. But the plays on texture were plenty sophisticated and jumpsuits skewed more elegant than workwear. Clearly, Takahashi is onto something: he’s about to open his eighth store in Japan, at the new Takanawa Gateway station in Tokyo, as well as a first standalone store outside Japan, in Korea. Sometimes, change takes hold in inches, not miles.