Interview
The creator of DEEP BLUE
DEEP BLUE for over 20 years!
The Product Manager, who loves selling clothes, and his encounter with fashion, and the future of DEEP BLUE
You are currently involved with DEEP BLUE as the General Manager of Product Division, but what made you decide to go into clothing sales?
My parents both worked in the fashion industry, and from a young age they would take me to manufacturers in Tokyo, and there were a lot of people around me who did the same, so I grew up in an environment where I was always surrounded by clothes. My parents would dress me in coordinated outfits, and when I look at photos of my Shichi-Go-San ceremony, I see myself wearing a leather jacket and boa boots, and even though I was just a child I was taken to a stylish hair salon, but of course at the time I wasn't aware of the circumstances I was in.
Eventually, I started buying my own clothes, but at first they were pretty unfashionable (laughs). I think I was most fashionable when my parents chose them for me.
From the fashion that was given to you to the fashion that you choose for yourself...
When I entered junior high school, my circle of friends expanded, I had more opportunities to go out and play, and I started to want to buy my own clothes. The first thing I bought with my own pocket money was a pair of white and black Levi's 501 jeans. It was a denim shop run by a cool-looking man on the street in front of Kurashiki Station at the time, and I still vividly remember mustering up the courage to enter the narrow, long store that had an intimidating atmosphere.
Also, the clothes you wear change rapidly as you are influenced by the people and friends you meet in the environment you are in. When I was in high school I started going to a select shop in Kurashiki, where I became friends with the owner and was greatly influenced not only by the clothes but also by the fact that he let me DJ there and the culture in general. At the time, it was the only shop in Okayama that carried Full Count*, so I started wearing Full Count denim, and looking back, that's how I ended up selling denim clothing.
*Full Count...A Japanese jeans manufacturer that has been pursuing the comfort and texture of vintage jeans since its founding in 1993.
Born to parents who worked in the fashion industry, she met friends in the fashion industry at a sensitive age and was influenced by them, which led her to become even more involved in the fashion industry.
After graduating from high school, I worked part-time at the select shop. One day, I was introduced to a sales job at a store that sold Eternal*. The store also sold a variety of other replica brands and second-hand clothing, and before long, I was allowed to do purchasing as well. I picked out brands I liked, went overseas to buy goods, planned and created products overseas, and was even involved in planning the interior design of the store itself, which was built from scratch. I felt that I had been able to do everything I wanted to do in terms of fashion sales after working there for 10 years.
*Eternal: A jeans brand born in Kojima, Kurashiki City, a denim production area, where the craftsmanship of artisans is evident in every step of the process, from materials to sewing to processing. Visit their website here ( https://eternaljeans.official.ec/ )
After that, I was invited to move to a new company* and discovered Eternal's women's version, "DEEP BLUE." I was involved in the management of Ivory Moment*, a select shop that also carries the product, and it was my first time seriously working on selling women's products.
*New company...the predecessor of the current company (Seikara Co., Ltd.) that sells DEEP BLUE.
*Ivory Moment...A select shop that operated in Nakasho, Okayama from 2005 for approximately 12 years.
Your current responsibilities are diverse, including sales, accounting, general affairs, and product management, but which is your favorite task?
After the business transfer in 2018, the company is now run by three people, with the exception of planning and design, so I do pretty much everything except creating things from scratch. My favorite part of my experience to date is interacting directly with customers, conveying the quality of the clothes, and selling them. Selling isn't just about buying and selling; you need the judgment to read the market and understand the future. Nothing happens without customers, so creating a store that attracts customers and the customer service skills to get them to buy—in other words, my human skills—are put to the test. It's not just the power of the brand; customers buy from me because they trust me. Selling in a store is incredibly challenging, but it's also fascinating and profound. While I don't currently sell directly to end users, my work is useful in sales to my client stores.
What are the advantages of having sales experience?
If you're only in sales, you basically only know about your own company's brand. I know most brands because of my experience looking at various brands, purchasing them, and selling them. For example, if I'm dealing in brand A, I also know related brand B and similar brand C, so I can see what the store wants to do and think about how to present DEEP BLUE, and conversely, I can give advice from the store's perspective as a purveyor. I think that the experience I gain from interacting with end users while selling in stores has been applied to various aspects of my work, including improving products.
What value do you want to provide to your customers through DEEP BLUE?
I want to convey the value of good old, timeless craftsmanship, which allows you to wear clothes that you will want to wear for the next five or ten years, clothes that you will find yourself wearing for a long time before you know it.
I want it to be something that can always be there, even as times change. I don't work in a store anymore, so I sometimes buy fast fashion brands for work, but they always wear out after about a year. The color of the fabric becomes strange, and when I sit or stand and the bottom rubs against them, strange marks appear on the seams and the color fades in those areas. It shouldn't get to that point under normal circumstances, and what should add character just deteriorates. That's why I have to replace them so frequently. I really feel that cheap is cheap for what it is. It's not that expensive is always better, but I think it's important that the shoes are durable and can be worn for a long time, and that the price is right so that the quality can be maintained.
DEEP BLUE has long been loved by fans for its excellent quality. It is a brand that creates timeless products with a focus on comfort, durability, and authenticity. It matches my own values regarding clothing, so I feel comfortable being involved with the brand.
What does making clothes mean to you, Mikami?
"Meeting expectations."
We receive letters from end users who are fans of DEEP BLUE saying, "Please continue to make great products," and some even go to the trouble of sending sweets from Tokyo. Passionate repeat customers buy multiple bottles of the same product, or even collect them in different colors. We also receive requests from such customers such as, "This is my fourth bottle, are you not making any more? I hope you will re-release it again," and we are truly grateful for that.
The designers changed during the company restructuring in 2020, so I think the direction of the design has also changed a bit. Coupled with the flow of the times, some things will inevitably change, but with this new power, I would like to further strengthen the appeal of the brand that we have cultivated so far. In order to widely communicate the quality of our products, I would like to connect them in a way that meets the expectations of not only our existing users, but also new users.
I want to cherish every moment so that I can achieve zero goals.
What's "basic" these days?
Jogging after dinner.
Now that I'm 45, I've written out what I want to do every 10 years, then 55, 65, 75, 85... I've broken down what I want to do and what I can do over this span, and written out goals based on the concept of time buckets*. I think what you can do changes with age, so right now I'm running. I probably won't be able to run when I'm 65, so I'm writing about what I can do now. You only live once, so don't regret it. Rather than thinking, "I couldn't do this" or "I really wanted to do that," I want to die with nothing left to do. It's not about tapering off, but a guideline for moving forward, cherishing each moment and doing your best to see it through.
*Time buckets: A way of thinking that divides the things you want to do in life into buckets based on age, making it clear when you need to achieve them.