A Radically Classic, Radically Cool Clothing Label Finally Puts Down Roots
There is far too much disposable clothing in the world. Seasons come, seasons go, garments are worn, garments are tossed. So, the makers of stuff with purpose deserve a tip of the ol' cap.
Kaptain Sunshine, a quietly excellent Japanese label, is one such maker.
Its garments are patient. They do not scream. If you don't study menswear, you may not be able to discern what even makes them all that special in the first place.
And you likely wouldn't get why I'm going big-picture on the occasion of Kaptain Sunshine's flagship store opening in Tokyo's tony Minami-Aoyama district, over a decade after it was founded in 2013.
That's no one's fault. In a consumer culture awash with excess, even the special stuff gets subsumed.
Let's let Kaptain Sunshine stand out.
Again, its clothes betray little upon first blush. This is a Japanese take on workwear-tinged heritage fare, a vein most famously represented in America and Europre by labels like visvim.
Unlike visvim, though, Kaptain Sunshine's oeuvre has long evolved past vintage worship.
Its sack blazers, neppy denim jackets, baggy belted military slacks, and fine leather belts transcend inspiration with a modern sense of built-in wearability. They have wider torsos, looser arms, and thoughtful materials that makes them more fun to wear, like soft hemp in place of rigid cotton twill.
This takes Kaptain Sunshine out of the realm of staid blue collar imitation and into more style-savvy territory, the domain of other young labels like Comoli, AURALEE, and A.PRESSE.
What makes these brands special isn't merely their bespoke fabrics, their absurdly refined production, or even their astonishingly well-developed visual language. I mean, that's all great. But it all comes back to the clothes. And if you don't wanna wear the clothes, well, why make 'em?
It's difficult to wax poetic about understated uniform-style garments, especially when touching them is so much easier. Handle them and see: They have a weight and meaning that gives them immediate appeal.
You want to wear this stuff.
The gist is, once you've learned all that you can about clothing care and craft, once you've returned from exploring the outer reaches of fashion and realize the superiority of no-brainer daily-driver comfort, these labels hit like a fastball.
Kaptain Sunshine isn't unique in this aspect but it is distinct.
It fashions overshirts that're classy enough for dinner but cool enough for a day out; it cuts slacks with higher rises because it looks classic and feels comfortable; it shapes giant overcoats with extra-deep pockets, because that's just useful detailing.
In Japan, Kaptain Sunshine clothes are equally styled with trad ensembles, classic dadcore, and more outré looks. Good garments supersede genre. This is stuff you want to wear and for a long time at that. Stop by the Kaptain Sunshine store, newly stocked with celebratory gold jewelry and German Army Trainers, and you'll see.
