A collaboration with LOOPWHEELER, the Japan-born sweat brand celebrated the world over, made real through Director Takayuki Minami's sheer passion and persistence. Across two parts, we uncover the story behind the birth of the popular oversized sweatshirt "LOOPWHEELER for Graphpaper."
This second part covers Loopwheeler's approach to making things, and the new pieces for AW 2020.
<Read Part 1 here>
Kanekichi Kogyo, where Loopwheeler and Graphpaper's tubular T-shirt fabrics are made using traditional loopwheel knitting machines.
――Loopwheeler is synonymous with loopwheel fleece. Why are you so committed to loopwheel knitting?
Satoshi Suzuki (hereafter, Suzuki): Loopwheeler is a brand that only uses fabric knitted on loopwheel machines - that's our fundamental condition. If we think of raw cotton as having 100 units of potential, that power steadily diminishes as it's spun into yarn and then knitted into fabric - dropping to 80, then 70. Loopwheel knitting is the method that minimizes that loss most effectively. Because the fabric is knitted slowly and gently, without tension, it preserves as much of the air naturally contained in the cotton as possible. It takes time, but the result is a sweatshirt fleece that remains soft and resilient, even after repeated washing. Our commitment to loopwheel knitting comes from the fact that it maximizes the inherent qualities and capabilities of the raw material.
Takayuki Minami (hereafter, Minami): But loopwheel machines themselves are disappearing, aren't they?
Suzuki: No new machines are being made anymore. At Kanekichi Kogyo, which you visited, there are just over 90 machines currently in operation, with around 180 more in storage. Another company, Wada Meriyasu, operates on a similar scale, so in total there are only about 150 to 200 loopwheel machines running today. Structurally, these machines must be suspended from ceiling beams. Steel beams cause too much vibration to knit properly, so the building has to use wooden beams. Considering each machine weighs about 80 kilograms, just imagine the cost of constructing a factory capable of suspending 30 of them. Even if you reused idle machines, trained new craftsmen, and built the facility, running a sustainable business wouldn't be easy.
Minami: There's the issue of machines and buildings, but it also feels like you can't just have anyone operate a loopwheel machine - the craftspeople matter, too.
Suzuki: At Kanekichi, under the current president Jintaro Minakata and the rest of the team, a generational shift has happened and the company has become much younger. It's taken about ten years, but it finally feels like they've reached a point where they can keep going for the next 20 or 30 years. Minakata and I worked together at Loopwheeler's Sendagaya shop from 2006 to 2010. I met him when he was still 20. At the time he was doing part-time work in restaurants, but I thought: even if he's going to take over the family business, it would be better for him to breathe the air of Tokyo first - understand what kind of market exists - before returning. So I invited him to come work with us. I asked his father to let me take him under my wing, and he worked with us for about four and a half years. By working with us, he built relationships with all kinds of business partners, and I think he came to understand what the Tokyo apparel industry is like - what clothing is, in that context. Over the past five years, he's trained young craftsmen and formed his own team.
Minami: When I visited Kanekichi, everyone called you "master."
Suzuki: Our role isn't just to express our own originality - we have to translate what our clients want. Japanese fashion culture has undeniably been led by Harajuku and Aoyama for decades, and that's where many interesting people are. I told him early on that unless he absorbed knowledge from those people and applied it to his own work, he wouldn't survive.
Minami: Maybe because of that, it feels like they have a different kind of initiative compared to other factories.
Suzuki: From here on, I hope they become knitters who represent Japan - people who can properly collaborate with creators, both in Japan and overseas.
Brown inspired by Dieter Rams for AW20, alongside a new staple gray.
――Changing topics, the AW20 theme was industrial designer Dieter Rams. The sweatshirts introduced colors like brown and gray, which are unusual for Loopwheeler. How was the collaboration with Graphpaper, honestly?
Suzuki: My first Dieter Rams memory is a brown Braun shaver. Creating colors inspired by his design philosophy was genuinely enjoyable. The subtle, indescribable tones that Minami brings - colors we would never come up with ourselves - are what make the collaboration interesting and educational. And for customers, being able to buy Loopwheeler pieces in colors exclusive to Graphpaper is exciting.
Minami: I personally like simple, basic clothing, so when I express my seasonal mood, color becomes the foundation. My inspiration often comes from architecture or art - things I love and that have influenced me - so figuring out how to express those colors is always the first step. Since Loopwheeler's production takes time, I always communicate the collection colors early so they can work while the idea is still fresh.
Graphpaper colors tend to be ambiguous and hard to describe. With other mills, we often need multiple revisions, but Suzuki's team gets it right in one go. Even we struggle to name some of these shades. This brown - there's something indescribably charming about it.
"LOOPWHEELER" for GP Raglan Sweat
Suzuki: That's really thanks to Iida Seni, the dye house we work with in Osaka, more than anything on our end. We call it brown here, but everyone on the production floor refers to it as "pumpkin."
――Do you consider the fact that the end customers for the collaboration and Loopwheeler's mainline products may differ?
Minami: My priority is not causing any trouble. Once we ask to work together, I want the relationship to last. Just as Suzuki continues Loopwheeler, I want Graphpaper to endure as well. I'm very conscious of not damaging Loopwheeler's name.
Suzuki: The markets may be different, but at their core, they're quite similar. People who buy Graphpaper probably want to understand, share, and empathize with what's in Minami's mind - his intentions and ideas - and whatever it is he's trying to do. Not that they necessarily want to get as big as Minami himself (laughs). I imagine wearing the clothes Minami directs makes them happy, or fun to wear.
So when Minami explains a material, people respond to it properly, and I think there's actually a lot of common ground - the expression is just a little different. Those people love Loopwheeler, but they also resonate with Minami's clothes and way of thinking, and buy Graphpaper for that reason. We feel that this synergy is why people end up buying more. That's why we try to visit the exhibitions as much as we can, see what else is being made, and share that understanding so we can reflect it when we make our patterns.
――Finally, what does Loopwheeler mean to you, Minami, and what does Graphpaper mean to you, Suzuki?
Minami: Loopwheeler is special to me. What's truly amazing is that when you keep doing one thing for a long time, the message is communicated consistently - without wavering - from the people on the floor all the way to customers. I felt that strongly at the release event for Loopwheeler's 20th-anniversary book at Hibiya Central Market. I was in charge of organizing the crowd, and every single visitor was wearing Loopwheeler - and of course everyone knew who Suzuki was too. That really moved me. The quality comes first, of course, but beyond that, having continued for 20 years - not just as clothing, but if you borrow a music word, it's like a "groove," a sense of solidarity, this unity the people around it generate - I learned so much from that. It gave me a real sense that we need to become like that too, and that we're being allowed to take part in it as well.
Suzuki: Working with Minami pushed us to create pieces that he himself could wear, expanding our range beyond what we could do in our mainline. In that sense, people who weren't previously covered by our sizing, or who resonate with Minami's concepts and creativity, have found LOOPWHEELER for Graphpaper - and we're grateful for that. Our mission is to continue making things that excite people, that make them think, I want to wear this, I want this - and we want to keep doing that. And I'd love to take a peek inside Minami's head, too.
Minami: That's very kind - thank you. We'll keep doing our best.
"LOOPWHEELER" for GP Sweat Parka
