COVERCHORD EXCLUSIVE

SUNSHINE＋CLOUD × nonnative
INTERVIEW with Hayato Takasu and Takayuki Fujii 　

Hayama-based select shop SUNSHINE＋CLOUD
We interviewed both designers about their brands and the story behind their collaboration

SUNSHINE＋CLOUD is located in the coastal town of Hayama, an area of rich nature. Designers Takasu and Fujii’s collaboration items will go on sale from Saturday, August 27th, to commemorate the arrival of nonnative items at the Hayama store.

To accompany this, SUNSHINE＋CLOUD shirts, reputed for their charming silhouette and colours, and AURORA SHOES with their guaranteed quality craftsmanship, will also go on sale at COVERCHORD.

This article will explore the story behind this collaboration through an interview with SUNSHINE＋CLOUD owner Hayato Takasu and nonnative designer Takayuki Fujii. They both live in Hayama and have chosen a life by the sea. We will explore what these two designers share and how a coastal environment has influenced their attitudes, as we delve into the story behind this Hayama-born collaboration.

SHOP SUNSHINE＋CLOUD × nonnative

Talk about
SUNSHINE＋CLOUD

Anyone who lives in Hayama, located in Kanagawa prefecture, will have heard of the select shop and cafe-restaurant SUNSHINE＋CLOUD. In a sense, it is the “face of Hayama”. Original items created by owner and designer Hayato Takasu are displayed in the unassuming seaside space. The site is adorned with the greenery of large trees, which are also a symbol of the brand, and the fresh sea air fills the store.

As well as original items, “timeless comfortable items” as perceived by Takasu, who spent his youth on the west coast, are also available in the store. These include not just clothes, but also household goods and accessories. And then there’s the feeling of relaxation - anyone stepping foot in the store will experience firsthand why it is loved by everyone who loves fresh sea air.

- Why did you open a select shop in Hayama?

Takasu: SUNSHINE＋CLOUD opened in Hayama in 1995. It was our second store, following the first one in Daikanyama. If I’m asked “why Hayama?”… well, it’s because I was living in Zushi. I was thinking about how I could avoid having to go into Tokyo, and I thought, if I have a store in Hayama, then I don’t need to go to Tokyo.

Fujii: I also moved from Tokyo to Hayama six years ago, so I can really relate to that. I think it’s something that everyone who lives around here thinks about.

Takasu: But, originally, it was in a different location in Hayama that was about 66㎡. I’d been thinking about moving since 2005, and in 2013 we moved to the current location. It used to be a company retreat for a Japanese sweet store but above all, it’s got plenty of space. And because we had people coming from quite far away, I thought, why not add a cafe? We sold wear and accessories, and then books and flowers, and eventually furniture too.

Fujii: The casual feel of this store is something that one probably couldn’t recreate in Tokyo. It works because it’s near the sea. And sometimes Takasu-san is here too. Don’t a lot of people come to the store because they want to meet him? I’d also like to stand in the storefront, but my staff won’t let me. (laughs)

Takasu: Yeah, I like having contact with the customers. Regardless of whether they buy something. I learn a lot from talking to them.

- Takasu-san, have you always been in the fashion industry?

Takasu: Actually, both my grandfather and my father were apparel makers. My grandfather worked during the transition from Kimonos to western-style clothes. During my father’s time, the company worked with all sorts of brands. So clothes and fashion have always been very familiar to me. The store in Daikanyama was also possible because it was a part of my father’s company’s business.

Fujii: Was that so? It was a family business then. What were you doing before you joined your father’s company?

Takasu: Before joining my father’s company, I was at university in America. I was traveling around at the time, from Idaho to Washington to California. I was studying economics but I spent most of my time playing tennis. (laughs) I was planning to travel a bit more after graduating, but my father became unwell so I was told to come home. And that’s when I joined my father’s company and started helping out.

- The gorgeous color scheme of the SUNSHINE＋CLOUD shirts that we will also be selling at COVERCHORD – is this something that you acquired during your time in the United States?

Takasu: I wonder. The sun is strong in California and colors are very vibrant, so yes maybe, that could be the case. But I’m actually just making things that I’d like to wear. When I was a student, I wore “made in USA” Champion T-shirts and Levis 501 jeans or shorts every day. In the 80s that was just everyday wear and not particularly fashionable.

Fujii: When I see the shirts that you design, the balance between the shoulder width and the length is different from what we use. They are made to be worn outside of your trousers, so they are short for one. I think it’s quite a difficult pattern. Not boxy and not loose, but Takasu-san’s style.

Takasu: Yeah. The shirt I’m wearing today is the “West Coast Button Down”. There have been a few minor changes, but we’ve basically been making them in this style for nearly 30 years. I’ve got quite wide shoulders, so they’re shaped to fit that. They’re just the right fit to wear over the top of a T-shirt. Also, we got rid of the collar band and made it a casual fit Italian collar.

Fujii: It’s open-collared but it’s buttoned down, so it makes the collar stands up nicely.

Takasu: Yeah, it’s similar to a Hawaiian shirt.

Fujii: But it doesn’t look like a Hawaiian shirt, you know. And the colors of the fabric are just sublime.

Takasu: We use all kinds of fabric, including Italian Canclini. The Canclini fabric in particular uses colors that you couldn’t create in Japan. I think they are the unique product of a summer resort surrounded by mountains and lakes.

Fujii: Yes, the aesthetic sense of the colors, it’s very striking. There are quite a few Japanese fabric stores that try to imitate it.

Takasu: By the way, Canclini fabrics have different names. The names are all place names; last year they were from the West coast, and this year from Mexico. Like Tijuana or Santa Barbara. And each one uses colors and shapes that properly suit the place name. It’s really cool. They produce different textiles according to the season, and they’re perfectly in tune with the times. It’s a sign of proper marketing.

Fujii: You could say that they’re aware of the changing times, or the different scenes of different times.

SHOP SUNSHINE＋CLOUD

Talk about
AURORA SHOES

- You both live in Hayama, but did you know each other?

Fujii: I of course knew him. He often came to the store after he moved to Hayama, and I also saw him a few times at restaurants in Hayama.

Takasu: I also of course knew about nonnative too. Although our direction and approach were different, I always thought that we had a lot to learn from nonnative> Although we didn’t have a direct connection, I was watching his work with interest.

Fujii: It was the same from our end. To have such a large regional store, to be selling furniture, and to be able to attract customers from Tokyo, and to also provide accommodation - I felt that what he’s doing is close to our ideal.

Takasu: Thank you. We’ve been selling AURORA SHOES since we opened, and a customer of the Hayama store, who worked for an advertising company, was a huge fan of Fujii. And when we were considering rebranding the AURORA SHOES we consulted him, and he kept insisting “if that’s the case, then Fujii is your man!”

Fujii: I sort of heard about that through the grapevine. But as I hadn’t received a direct offer, and it wasn’t something that I wanted to bring up myself, I just thought it was one of those things.

Takasu: And then one day, we had an internal meeting about AURORA SHOES. After the meeting, I just happened to meet him at a local restaurant. And a few days later, I was getting drunk in another nearby bar and Fujii just happened to be next to me at the time. (laughs) So I thought - this is meant to be.

AURORA SHOES are oil leather comfort shoes that originated from a town called Aurora, located in North West New York, in the early 1990s. They came as moccasin-style slip-ons, sandals and ankle-high boots. Each shoe is handmade, meaning there was only a limited number of them being produced. The brand is appreciated by its many faithful fans for its made-in-America, high-quality leather shoes, made from high-grade full-grain leather.

- Please tell us how you came to sell AURORA SHOES at SUNSHINE+CLOUD.

Takasu: The AURORA SHOES workshop is located in a small village of about 500 people.

Fujii: A village?

Takasu: Yes, not a city or town, but a village. It probably has more cows than humans. It all started about 30 years ago when an American friend of mine said introduced me to the brand, saying “have you heard of these really interesting shoes?”. So I brought a sample back to Japan with me, but before I could stock up on any for my store, they were featured in a magazine. I think it was “anan” or “olive”. So I rushed over to America again and snuck a few pairs back into Japan in my suitcase.

Fujii: Illegal importing (laughs). We can admit that now because it’s in the past. That was what it was like back then. By the way, I’m also a fan of AURORA SHOES and I own a pair of Chukka Boots. They’re durable and comfortable. They also somehow have a certain likeness to German leather shoes.

Takasu: Yeah, along the same lines as the craft shoes that the so-called hippies of the 80s wore. The leather used in AURORA SHOES is pliable so it fits the shape of the wearer’s foot. And it’s not really a problem if they get wet either, so they’re also nice to wear barefooted at the beach. They go with shorts too. The ones I’m wearing today are a long-time favorite of mine. I’ve had the sole replaced three times. Because I knew we’d be taking photos today, I gave them a good polish.

Fujii: We’ve wanted to sell them at COVERCHORD for a while now, and we’d actually made an offer a few times, but we were turned down each time.

Takasu: No, they really just didn’t have the stock. They only had four shoemakers at that time, it was completely normal to have to wait for two years for your order. The production just couldn’t keep up at all. Now there’s a new owner who’s managed to balance supply and demand.

Fujii: There are not many brands like that anymore, are there? It’s really quite something to be able to sell them now. We have both women’s and men’s, so it would be great if the younger generation could discover them.

Takasu: Yeah. I hope that as well as the people who have loved and used them up until now, people in their twenties and the next generation will discover them too.

SHOP AURORA SHOES

Talk about
SUNSHINE＋CLOUD × nonnative

- Finally, about the nonnative x SUNSHINE+CLOUD exclusive items.

Fujii: When making collaboration items this time, firstly we had to consider how best to express the nonnative style. Also, we didn’t want to make them too expensive.

Takasu: So we decided to collaborate on items that are already nonnative classics - a T-shirt, a bag and a cap.

Fujii: We’d never used this sort of college font at nonnative before, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to try. We wanted to make it something that we would only make for this sort of occasion. Also, we intentionally chose the two colors, black and navy, as they weren’t associated with SUNSHINE＋CLOUD. So, while they fit in the store display, they also stand out.

Takasu: Also, I personally like Stüssy and Supreme.

Fujii: Yeah, I see.

Takasu: Regardless of whether it matches this store or not, I thought it would be cool for an old man to wear clothes like these. (laughs) And now that the store is bigger, we get discerning people coming from both nearby and from further afield. So I was wanting to make SUNSHINE＋CLOUD appeal to a wider audience. While we had lots of women’s items in the store, we didn’t have so many men’s. And thanks to this connection with Fujii, we are now able to sell nonnative items.

Fujii: And that’s what led to this collaboration really. It’s a project that’s been in the making for six years.

Hayato Takasu
Born in Tokyo in 1964. Studied in America from the age of 18 and spent the 80s in California. Returned to Japan in 1990. Founded G.O.D (Daikanyama) in 1992, SUNSHINE+CLOUD (Hayama) in 1995 and PARADISE STORE (Amami Oshima) in 2009. Also designs clothes, accessories, furniture, and stores.
Web_sunshine-cloud.com

Takayuki Fujii
Born in 1976. From Nara Prefecture. After studying Spacial Design at Musashino Art University, gained experience at select shops before becoming a designer at in 2001. Has since been developing his own creative and refined style of craftsmanship, forming ’s world view.
Web_nonnative.com

Interview & Text_Tokiko Nitta