How Fashion Brand Mizen Is Raising the Profile of Japan’s Kimono Textile Makers

TOKYO — Shunsuke Teranishi never set out to create a fashion brand. In fact, he refers to Mizen, the label that he designs and runs with his wife and business partner Chien-Tsu Teranishi, as a “project.”

“It’s not just about design,” he said from the second floor of Mizen’s flagship boutique in Tokyo’s upscale, fashion-forward district of Aoyama. “The story behind the production and the work that goes into it are equally important. We want to share that with our customers while at the same time supporting the producer partners that we work with. It’s like a gathering of friends.”

The couple’s early journeys in the fashion industry followed a path that is not uncommon among promising young Asian designers, but which eventually inspired them to seek a new way of making and selling clothing. Shunsuke studied architecture at Kyoto University before joining Yohji Yamamoto as a patternmaker. At age 28 he moved to Milan, working under Stefano Pilati at Agnona and then for Hermès as a 3D designer, a role that was effectively a mix of designer and patternmaker.

“I spent 12 years in Europe. Every fashion company was looking for a Japanese patterner, particularly ones who came from Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, or Issey Miyake,” he said. “The reason for this is that in Japan we are taught to both design and pattern, but in Europe these jobs are very separated. Designers have become like celebrities, while the patterners and others are doing all of the production behind the scenes.”

Chien-Tsu, who in Japan and Europe goes by her English name Molly, also moved to Milan after graduating from fashion school in her native Taiwan. Upon completing a master’s degree in fashion design from Instituto Marangoni, she joined Agnona as Pilati’s personal assistant. She later moved from Berlin to Paris to design for Carven and Shiatzy Chen.

The couple not only met in Europe but it was also during this time that they began to meet producers of traditional Japanese textiles, who were desperately — and fruitlessly — trying to carve out a place for themselves within what Shunsuke refers to as the “fashion pyramid.” Serendipitously, these encounters came around the same time that he was becoming disillusioned with his own role in the industry.

“I realized that me being at Hermès or not made no difference to the brand. I wanted to do something on my own, and then I happened to meet these makers of incredible kimono fabrics, and I realized that neither of us fit into the pyramid of the fashion industry,” he said. “It was at that time that I started to think about my own value as a Japanese person and I decided that rather than creating a brand or trends, I wanted to create a new sense of value from Japan.”

The traditional textiles produced in Japan are widely considered to be among the highest quality in the world, with many taking several months to create by hand in processes that are painstakingly intricate and labor-intensive. European designers are aware of this, but also find kimono fabrics difficult to work with, owing to the fact that their width is set at about a quarter of what they are accustomed to.

“Europeans know that Japanese fabrics are better, but they want them to be wider. This is a very design-centric way of thinking,” Shunsuke said. “But with Mizen, we think about how we can design to support the craft and the existing techniques. If we are able to do that, it will improve the situation for producers around the world, not just in Japan.”

The Teranishis left Europe and settled in Japan in 2018. They have been working with a small group of just over a dozen carefully selected kimono textile makers ever since, originally under the label Arlnata, which was rebranded as Mizen in 2022.

“The kimono market is shrinking, so everyone is thinking about what to do next, but we’re selective about which producers we work with. It has to be people who are interested in doing something new,” Shunsuke said. “European luxury brands like Armani or Louis Vuitton might collaborate with kimono textile makers, but it will only be for one season. On the other hand, we are only interested in creating long-term relationships that really benefit the producers.”

The fabrics that Mizen uses in its designs take between three months and a year to produce, meaning it is not always possible for the brand to churn out two collections a year. Instead, the designers say that the brand shares more similarities with the automobile industry than with other fashion brands. “We announce new pieces and collections whenever they’re ready,” Shunsuke said.

Capes are one of Mizen’s signature styles, having now been updated five times with slight adjustments, each time using the fabrics that are ready and available at the time. These also represent one of the brand’s biggest challenges: combining kimono silks with high-quality knits. Since the kimono fabrics have no give but the knits naturally stretch, puckering would seem to be inevitable. But Shunsuke used his experience in 3D design to create a type of piping that binds the two together with a completely flat seam, while also adding a contrasting design element.

Bomber jackets are another staple, and feature one of the brand’s most innovative uses of the narrow kimono fabrics. They wrap around the body, vertically at the front and horizontally at the back, creating unique seaming that appears intentional, rather than the product of necessity.

But the common thread among all of Mizen’s designs is the high-quality fabrics. Tweed-like textiles woven from lightweight silk ribbons, highly detailed and handmade batiks, and even fabrics that incorporate narrow strips of hand-cut abalone shell all feature heavily in the brand’s classically elegant yet modern pieces for both men and women.

“Mizen represents the intersection of form and material,” Shunsuke said.

On each garment’s label is not only Mizen’s own logo, but also the name of the workshop that made the fabric, another example of the Teranishis’ commitment to supporting producers.

In the future, the couple plans to take their concept even further, opening local stores in the places where Mizen textiles are made. They envision that these shops will sell not only clothing, but also furniture, jewelry and other regional handicrafts.

“Since we have the textile ateliers’ names on the tags, our customers know where they come from, but they still don’t have a chance to visit the workshops. We hope these stores will help to bridge the gap between producers and consumers,” Molly said.