This Version of Nautica (!) Doesn't Look Its Age
Nautica no longer looks its age. Well, at least part of Nautica. The part of Nautica that none of us can buy. But hey, it sure looks cool.
If you're like me, you think of Nautica as a department-store brand sold on the racks of like, I dunno, Macy's or something. But in Japan, Nautica has reverted back into something truly prescient.
Nautica Japan is overseen by DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL, a Japanese conglomerate that operates properties like FREAK'S STORE, a popular multi-brand retailer with locations throughout the country.
It does indeed sell Nautica Japan, and has done so since the brand rebooted several years back under the guidance of genius stylist Akio Hasegawa. Hasegawa's touch remains visible in Nautica Japan's baggy shapes and '90s streetwear inclinations, though the Nautica Jeans Co. collection, reborn for Spring/Summer 2025, supercharges that motif into something all-new.
In general, SS25 is as good a time as any to get a taste for Nautica Japan (and Nautica Jeans Co. Japan, too).
The garments are quintessential modern streetwear inflected with overt retro cues. The faded denim jackets, giant arc-logo hoodies, massive striped tees, and baggy curved-leg jeans are stylistically indebted to the era of Spice Girls and Liquid Television but their designs are also very much of the moment.
With newfound nostalgia for GAP-style graphics and grunge outfits, the latest Nautica Japan offering is impressively timely. But, more than that, its faded leather jackets and double-knee jeans are quite cool, cut with an eye for volume that allows the new Nautica Japan clothes to escape trend death.
Should even that prove too fashion-y for a younger clientele, though, there's the revived Nautica Jeans Co. label, which debuts with tie-dye-ish sweaters and curved-leg jeans at astonishingly affordable prices.
Nothing from the first Nautica Jeans Co. Japan delivery of the season, modeled by J-Pop outfit MYERA, retails online for over ¥15,000 (about $100).
None of this looks much like Nautica, to be fair.
Nautica found fame and fortune in '80s with an aspirational sea-breezy aesthetic. By the '90s, clusters of young kids began appropriated its WASP-y aesthetic into a burgeoning streetwear scene that blended thrashed skate gear with preppier brands like Ralph Lauren, The North Face, and Tommy Hilfiger.
But eventually, Nautica became just another licensed label alongside other former industry titans like Geoffrey Beene and Liz Claiborne. The company still exists and is owned by Authentic Brands Group, the same company that currently owns Reebok.
Though it appears at least somewhat aware of ongoing interest in its retro wares, evidenced by a now-vacant Nautica Vintage webpage, Western Nautica doesn't appear much interested in tapping Nautica Japan's market.
The quintessential Nautica garment, made famous by founder David Chu, was a light windbreaker informed by preppy sailing jackets. Compare it to the faded nylon hoodies and pre-washed sweats of modern-day Nautica Japan and, well, not much of a throughline (save for a one-off air-conditioned jacket from a few years back).
And yet, Nautica Japan is still authentically Nautica. It leans into the appropriative aesthetic that defined Nautica as a '90s streetwear brand.
Except that here, instead of merely providing a hoodie or jacket to be paired with a Triple 5 Soul tee and Levi's Silver Tabs, Nautica Japan is serving up the entire wardrobe, looking nothing like the nearly 40-year-old clothing company that it is.
It's youthful. It's wearable. It's cool. It's not really Nautica. But it is.
