[My resume 7] MADE IN WORLD The night before my birth

It was 1988, the year I was in my sixth year at university.
This was because I was so busy working as an assistant to my child, and so much fun, that I stopped going to school and became a fourth year student for the third time.

I believe it happened in the latter half of March, during spring break, when I happened to be wandering around Daikanyama. A boy with a familiar face walked towards me from the other side.
He was one of the group of high school students who often hung out at Earth Hole.
I casually asked him, ``It's been a while! Oh, I'm sure you haven't graduated yet, right? What are you going to do next?'' He answered, ``Well, I've decided to enter a fashion school, but my parents want me to try it at a store as well.'' "I was wondering what I should do since you said 'ba'." was the answer.

I answered this unconsciously.
"I'm lying! It looks like fun! Let's do it together." MADE IN WORLD was born from this momentary encounter and chat.

This boy is only 18 years old, his name is Susumu Kojima, and his nickname is ``Boo-chan.''
He wasn't overweight at all, but he was called by that nickname, and before we knew it, everyone was calling him that. There's no way a boy who just graduated high school and has never worked, and a 23-year-old me who likes fashion but has no experience buying or working part-time at a shop, could start a clothing store.
Maybe it was recklessness or naivety, but eight months after this encounter, I ended up accomplishing something that I thought would be impossible now.

Current Houyhnhnm readers probably don't know about MADE IN WORLD, so I'll give a brief explanation.
Opened on Fire Street in Shibuya (the street where the fire station is located, parallel to the Yamanote Line from Harajuku to Shibuya).
It started with an assortment of imported items, and then became a big boom, sparking Ralph Lauren's ``Big Polo.''
In the middle of the sale, we have selected domestic brands such as ``Tenderloin'', ``Core Fighter'', and ``SOPH.''.
At the same time, the shop's original brand ``KNOT'' became popular.
After that, directly managed stores were expanded to Harajuku, Nagoya, and Kyoto. Unfortunately, it closed in 2015.

Let's return the story. Boo-chan and I are working hard to set up the store as amateurs.

I was confused about the basics, such as where to go, what to name the store, what kind of products to choose, and how to go about purchasing in the first place.

There are times when I am disappointed that we were able to create a store at such a high level, but because we were amateurs, we created a store with a high level of purity, unfettered by common sense or precedent, and put everything we thought was interesting into it. I think it happened.
I came up with the store name and logo. MADE IN WORLD, literally translated as "made in the world". The concept is to offer a wide variety of interesting items from around the world.

Accordingly, the logo is a crown on top of a globe.

The printer finished what I had drawn by hand.


London cityscape in 1988

The most important thing is purchasing, but I don't know how to go to exhibitions overseas, and even if I could order it, I wouldn't be able to get it in time for the opening.

When this happens, I have no choice but to grab as much cash as I can and buy it in kind.

At that time, Orita-kun (aka DJ MARBO), who was the same age as me and was a DJ and worked at a cafe and bar called Wonder Bowl in Shibuya, had moved to London, so I decided to rely on him to buy British goods. It was decided in a hurry.

For me, this was my first overseas trip and it was a sudden buying tour, and since I couldn't go home until I found a certain amount of products, I decided to use an open ticket and have no plans for my return.

On the way, I decided to visit Paris, so I bought a ticket there, which turned out to be quite an unusual trip, but I'll talk about what happens next.