Mastermind JAPAN
Mastermind JAPAN is a fashion label founded by Masaaki Homma in 1997. Mastermind JAPAN is a higher-end brand that combines quality with its signature skull-and-bones logo. Every garment is made in Japan and shows its pride in the tags, along with a list of the names of the people who contributed to making the garment. Mastermind JAPAN produces collaborations and pieces with Dover Street Market, Stussy, adidas Originals and Bamford Watch Department, among others. Without having completed any formal training in fashion, Homma, who previously worked at Yohji Yamamoto, spontaneously decided to launch the label in 1997 during Tokyo Fashion Week. He was soon faced with huge debts because his pieces were not selling. In a last desperate attempt, Homma attended the joint SEHM exhibition in Paris, where a warm reception persuaded him to carry on. In his third year attending, Homma received a major order that gave the brand a big cash injection and strengthened its high-quality position. In 2013, Homma decided to stop the brand's seasonal deliveries, but he continues to collaborate with various major brands, and now with Mitchell & Ness.
Mitchell & Ness
Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. is an American sportswear company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1904 and is the oldest sporting goods company in Philadelphia. Through licensing agreements with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and the Collegiate Licensing Company, the company produces vintage sporting goods such as jerseys, jackets, hats, apparel to match basketball shoes and their iconic Mitchell & Ness caps.
Japanese identity
The mastermind JAPAN collaborations continue unabated: after a Medicom Toy BEARBRICK and Converse, now with a selection of Mitchell & Ness sportswear. The apparel comes in the Japanese brand's preferred black, with retro branding instead of team logos. A timeless varsity jacket, hoodie, T-shirt, Swingman jersey, shorts and cap have also received the Mastermind treatment and have been fully reworked in black-and-white, black and white. The Mitchell & Ness script logo adorns selected items, including the satin varsity jacket and black cap, the latter of which also has a Mastermind print hidden under the brim. The Japanese Mitchell & Ness collaboration launches on 29 August on the website of mastermind, GR8, TATRAS & STRADA EST OSAKA and Shinjuku.
