Bed j.w. Ford started out with Shinpei Yamagishi and Keisuke Kosaka in 2010. Shinpei is a designer and Keisuke a visual director. We were originally drinking buddies and spent a lot of time together. Since both of us had relevant experience in the industry and connected well on a personal level, we decided to start our own brand together.

Yes, as you say, we didn’t go to any fashion school. We didn’t see any reason to go to school for something we could get practical experience from by carrying out the actual work rather than taking classes to learn about it. By distancing ourselves from fashion students, we’ve found our own way to approach our collections and are able to focus efficiently on our own ideas.

We don’t have an exact answer to the question; the only thing we’re sure of is that we’ve stayed devoted to producing the highest quality products at every level. We haven’t done any outreach to approach stores on a large scale, but we’ve been lucky to encounter great stores that appreciate what we do and are committed to building a relationship with our brand. Frankly, we haven’t changed at all since we started the brand five years ago.

We don’t think North America is easier than Europe. We just haven’t had any particularly good opportunities to reach the European market. Europe always inspires us and we would love to find stores to partner with there. Recently, we travelled to Paris and Antwerp, and we found the culture, fashion, and the atmosphere entrancing. The experience increased our desire to find a good home for our brand in these cities.

We’ve definitely been influenced by all of the aforementioned. Not just for us, but also for many young Japanese designers these are household names and an inspiration for our aspirations. Sasquatchfabrix, and Shin Murayama in particular, were younger designers that helped us believe we could strike out on our own. Growing up, we were also influenced by designers from outside Japan; Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Helmut Lang have each had a practical beauty to their designs that became their signature and that’s something we’re very fond of.

We don’t know enough about other countries to be able to compare, but in Japan there’s a respect for discipline and following tradition. To us, it’s clear that some young Japanese designers are just following the trends of the era and copying popular styles hoping to emulate their success. We want to be something different, to tell our own story as we see it.

Yes, exactly. The poem is one that has had a great influence on us and on the way we see our brand. It’s about following your heart, even when the whole world seems lost – and we make sure to carry that idea of determination with us in everything we do.

We can’t really think about after the show yet. We finally found ourselves with this opportunity so we’ve been making sure to concentrate all our energies on doing our best while planning it. With our first runway show, I think we’ll be able to reach a greater audience and better gauge the response to our collections on a global scale. It’s not that we care whether people like the designs or not, but we’re interested in honest opinions. We’re really thrilled to have the show coming up, and whatever comes next, we’ll be glad to take it in stride.