Looking for one of Japan’s most innovative design exports? Proceed past the hustle of Tokyo’s Shibuya
Fashion Week
headquarters and head straight for Asakusa, where Ryo Kashiwazaki and
his brand, Hender Scheme, have been quietly changing the footwear game
since the label’s launch in 2010. A purveyor of handcrafted,
one-of-a-kind all-leather sneakers, Kashiwazaki has tapped into the
current obsession with luxury alternatives to wardrobe staples. The
shoes are inspired by classic styles—the Air Jordan, the Stan Smith, and
Clarks’s Wallabee boots, to name a few—but rendered in pigskin, goat,
and suede, and assembled entirely by hand. According to Kashiwazaki, the
stylistic similarities to the factory-made models are all intentional;
his shoes are meant to draw comparison between the fast-fashion
favorites and his high-end homage. “When it comes to hand- versus
factory-made, each has its positives and negatives,” says Kashiwazaki
with trademark diplomacy. “Factory-made shoes are cheaper and can be of
good quality, but handmade items offer something special and personal.
This is why we make sneakers—so people can choose and have a greater
range of options.”
And it’s hard not to be impressed by the options on display at Hender
Scheme’s studio: Each pair is a labor of love, with the skins treated
by hand for up to eight months before they are painstakingly assembled
for an additional three. They are built to last, developing a lustrous
patina with weather and age that has been embraced and fetishized by
sneakerheads who value the label’s individualism and exclusivity. (Plus,
one imagines, a well-weathered pair signifies that you’ve been a fan
since before they hit the big time—not so easy to convey with your
beaten-up Nikes.) Spotted on the heels of high-profile footwear
fetishists like Diddy and
Justin Bieber,
Hender Scheme has quickly become a favorite among the celebrity set,
something that the modest Kashiwazaki is unfazed by. “I don’t feel any
big difference between celebrities wearing the shoes and my friends
wearing the shoes—I think both are equally good.”
Though he admits that he has always been intrigued by leather,
Kashiwazaki came to footwear design in a somewhat roundabout fashion.
After studying psychology in university—“Hender Scheme” is a nod to
Sandra Bem’s gender schema theory, which explores how individuals become
gendered in society (a neat trick for an item as unisex as the
sneaker)—he developed an interest in accessories, due in no small part
to a fortuitously placed shoe store near his girlfriend’s apartment. He
trained in factories for the next two years, developing an affinity for
the work created by the artisans he observed, many of whom he later
enlisted for his own line. “There are artisans who have this incredible
knowledge, but now as they’re getting older it is harder to find those
to train for the future,” says Kashiwazaki. With young people’s
interests typically lying more in the technological realm rather than
handiwork— and in the five to 10 years of apprenticeship required for
training new hires—Kashiwazaki hopes that Hender Scheme’s success will,
essentially, make craftsmanship cool again, and go on to help preserve
that rich history.
Recruitment headaches aside, Kashiwazaki has recently expanded his
vision beyond footwear, moving into minimalist handbags, logo-free
baseball caps, and a variety of home goods, including furniture. The
collections are united by their adherence to his less-is-more aesthetic
and the way in which they push the boundaries of what leather can do,
with everything from clocks to coasters delivered in colorful hide.
Still, shoes remain at the forefront of his Spring/Summer 2016
collection. “This season is called Post-Modern—we wanted to try new and
contemporary styles and merge those with the traditional techniques,”
says Kashiwazaki, who aimed to intermingle what it meant to be a “cool”
or a “classic” style. “For the styles that are considered ‘street,’ we
incorporate classic elements, and then we try to add a bit of street to
the more classic shoes like the loafer or sandal,” he says, and
standouts like his updated take on creepers and shark-soled Chelsea
boots seem certain to introduce Hender Scheme to an even wider audience,
something that Kashiwazaki wouldn’t mind—as long as it doesn’t
interfere with the process, of course.
Source: Vogue
