Thoughts behind the brand's first permanent store [Shibuya/MIYASHITA PARK STORE]
On Saturday, September 17th, KAPOK KNOT will open the brand's first permanent store in Shibuya MIYASHITA PARK!
With the concept of [KNOT LAB: A laboratory that connects "creation" and "use"] , you will not only be able to purchase products, but you will also be able to experience the process from materials to finished clothes, and stimulate your intellectual curiosity. A concept store that delivers experiences .
This time, our representative, Fukai, would like to share with us his thoughts on opening this store.
【table of contents】
・First store opening is limited to 3 months! The second floor of a sushi restaurant scheduled to be demolished
・Second store opening is limited to 6 months! The location is a former courier collection point.
・For the third time, the stage was moved to Shibuya and became a permanent store.
・About opening event & reservations
Hello! This is Kito Fukai, representative of Kapok Knot.
Finally,... how...
We, Kapok Knot, will be opening a permanent store in Shibuya MIYASHITA PARK !
It has been about 3 years since the brand debuted in October 2019. We decided to open a store in Shibuya, and MIYASHITA PARK, a place where new culture is born .
It may seem like we are progressing very smoothly, but we have overcome many difficulties to get to this point.
I would like to share some of that journey with you.
The first store opening is limited to 3 months! The second floor of a sushi restaurant scheduled to be demolished
The first time we opened a store was
It was January 2021, when infectious diseases were raging.
The location is Nihonbashi, the textile town of the east.
We can't even imagine entering a commercial facility like we did this time.
The first location I chose was on the second floor of a sushi restaurant that was scheduled to be demolished.
I had no long-standing ties to this area, but I became interested when I heard that an acquaintance of mine was in charge of redeveloping the city.
As someone who specializes in apparel in Osaka, it may have been a natural progression that I became interested in the eastern textile town of Nihonbashi.
The meeting when we opened our store for the first time
We decided to operate the store on an experimental basis, thinking, ``Let's just try it out first.''
That is, ``Reservation required, limited to 7 groups per day, open on weekends only.''
Has there ever been an apparel store with this kind of business style?
However, this ultimately paid off.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, customers will feel safer if we only accept reservations.
Furthermore, in order to convey the idea of Kapok, a new material, and the brand,
This cannot be conveyed through the construction of a typical apparel store.
“The background of manufacturing, current social issues, and the kapok knot as one of the solutions for the future.”
We focused on the store layout and experience design to carefully convey this consistent story.
Showroom as of January 2021
Considering this situation, we decided to open a reservation-only store.
Thanks to the media exposure, we were always fully booked, which was better than we expected.
Contents interviewed immediately after opening
However, it opened in January 2021, in the middle of winter.
The time to buy coats should be a little earlier, so we originally wanted to open earlier, around October.
However, as we have no track record, we cannot take the risk of suddenly opening a store in a commercial facility.
Therefore, we took advantage of properties that had become idle due to urban redevelopment, etc.
I was looking for such a place.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine happened to tell me that he was opening his first store on the second floor of a sushi restaurant in Nihonbashi.
Photos at the time of withdrawal in March 2021
The second store opening is limited to 6 months! The location is a former courier collection point.
The second store opening was a store with a limited time limit from October 2021 to March 2022.
This store is also idle real estate.
The location was originally a collection point for parcels, but it is a 1-minute walk from the location of the first store.
In Nihonbashi, a place that I have become accustomed to, I was able to open in October in early autumn, which I had wanted to do since last year!
New showroom opened in October 2021
I was fascinated by the city of Nihonbashi and thought about why.
The reason for this is largely a sensory experience that is difficult to put into words, but if I were to put it into words, it would be
I think it's a large city that accepts both the old and historic and the new like us.
I was drawn to the atmosphere of the city, where you can find both new commercial facilities and long-established stores that have been in business for over 100 years just a short walk away.
It would be too long to talk about the appeal of the city of Nihonbashi, so let's talk about it another time, but let's get back to talking about the stores.
Continuing from the last time, even at the store I opened for the second time,
``Reservation required, limited number of groups, open on weekends only''
I stuck to that style.
Thanks to all of you, the reservation slots are always full and we have received so much attention that some people are unable to come to the store.
During this time, we received a variety of opinions.
Each of these voices has actually had a big impact on the opening of the MIYASHITA PARK store.
positive opinion
"I really like the customer service style, which requires reservations and one person per group."
“Sustainability and the city of Nihonbashi go hand in hand.”
“It’s such a wonderful experience to touch the materials!”
negative opinion
"It's difficult to make reservations at apparel stores."
"I don't go to the east side of Tokyo much, so I would like to open a store on the west side."
Based on these opinions, we reconsidered our store opening strategy once the showroom closes in March 2022.
Times are increasingly supporting online purchases, and now more than 20% of clothes are bought online.
Meanwhile, we were at a crossroads for our brand, deciding whether to open a store or sell online.
If you only think about the word "efficiency," it might be a good idea to open a store in an online shopping mall and sell it.
However, after seeing the smiles and opinions of each and every person who has visited our store, we became convinced that the place we should communicate our message is not online, but in the store , and decided to open a permanent store. did.
This determination led to the location of Shibuya.
For the third time, we moved the stage to Shibuya and opened a permanent store.
Kapok Knot is taking on the challenge of opening a permanent store in the city of Shibuya.
A store opening strategy from Nihonbashi to Shibuya that seems impossible for conventional apparel brands.
The background to this was the story of the first and second store openings that I have told you about.
While retaining some of the ``reservation-based, one-to-one customer service'' style that was popular at the first and second stores, the store also caters to people who happen to be passing by.
Click here for details on reservation-based customer service
Kapok Knot is taking on a new challenge in the fashion capital of Shibuya.
MIYASHITA PARK is a place where luxury and streetwear, historic brands and brands that create new culture coexist.
The location was a perfect fit for our rebranding concept of "Blur the line".
As some of you may have noticed, Kapok Knot is undergoing a rebrand.
We will review each aspect of our brand vision, visual image, and brand color, aiming to become a brand that balances luxury and sustainability with global appeal .
Medium-term vision announced in September
This challenge will be restarted at MIYASHITA PARK in Shibuya.
We have not achieved anything yet, and the support of everyone reading this is essential to our future challenges.
We hope you will join us as we grow from an empty, unconstructed store to a globally recognized brand.
See you at MIYASHITA PARK!
About opening event & reservations
An opening event will be held on Saturday, September 17th and Sunday, September 18th, so if you are interested, please take a look below.
■Click here for details on the opening event from September 17th (Sat) to 18th (Sun)
In addition, you can make reservations for the reservation-only service "KNOT LAB" from September 19th (Monday) onwards.
■Click here to make reservations for “KNOT LAB” after September 19th (Monday)
We will be delivering an updated version of our previous showroom, where you can experience the story of how clothes are made from materials in a workshop format, so please make a reservation!