The Vanish Tour of Asia Arrives in Harajuku, Tokyo,to Meet the legendary outerwear collector and chief buyer at Beams Plus Shigeru Kaneko.
As part of the recent Vanish tour of Asia, the Vanish team were lucky enough to be invited over to the Beams HQ (overseeing a diverse portfolio of more than 30 brands and creative projects) to meet the chief buyer at Beams Plus and esteemed vintage outdoor clothing collector Shigeru Kaneko.
Given a warm welcome by the Beams staff, Team Vanish were able to learn all about the brand’s incredible 50 year history thanks in part to a permanent in-house timeline exhibition.
Though impossible to document all of their impressive achievements over the years, the products on display nonetheless provided a fascinating insight into the brand. Showcasing a number of key evolutionary moments and significant releases, from the brand’s inception in 1976 (originally called ‘American Life shop Beams’) right through to today’s globe spanning empire. Leaving us in no doubt that though Beams has been inspired by timeless looks such as American Ivy League and classic English tailoring, that their name is now equally synonymous with classic style, albeit with a signature Japanese obsession for detail and premium quality.
Following this impressive history lesson, the Vanish team met up with Shigeru Kaneko, who as well as being the chief buyer of Beams Plus, is also widely respected around the world for his seriously impressive collection of vintage outdoor clothing. Having released his Outdoor Expedition Book 99 last year (Vol. 9 in the “I AM BEAMS” series), an ongoing global exhibition tour (Expedition Club) followed.
Clearly a very busy man, Shigeru kindly took time out to pick some of his rarest and most impressive down parkas specifically for the Vanish team to check out. Consisting predominantly of North American brands from the second half of the twentieth century alongside the incredibly rare down parkas were a number of vintage Eddie Bauer down hand warmers and face masks that have now become something of a Shigeru trademark in his legendary collection. Alongside Eddie Bauer the archival outerwear included brands such as Gerry, The North Face, Pointfive, Moncler, REI, Blacks, Wilderness Experience, Snow Lion, Adventure 16 and Mountain Equipment. The latter two brands and their down jackets having both provided direct design inspiration for recent Beams Plus collaborations with END Clothing and Palace Skateboards, respectively.
Meeting Shigeru and experiencing the collection was an unforgettable experience and a particular highlight in what has been an incredible trip to one of the most exciting and design savvy cities in the world…a visit which was topped off by the always affable Shigeru donning his beloved Gerry U.S.A.F. Survival suit for us and letting us take some shots of him in this incredible piece of military expedition history from 1959.
Vanish would like to say a huge thank you to Shigeru Kaneko and Mizuki Maeda for taking time out of their busy schedules to show us around, as well as all the staff at Beams HQ and the Beams Plus store in Harajuku.
