Newly opened Miyashita Park mall may be anchored by numerous stores by high-end brands, but that doesn’t mean stocking up on style at this new fashion hub is costing you an arm and a leg. Enter Firsthand, a retail concept by a Japanese lifestyle company Daytona International with a distinct focus on sustainable fashion. Following the opening of its first outpost in Tokyo‘s distinctly upscale Aoyama shopping district last October, this is the store’s second branch which specifically targets a demographic of well-heeled shoppers. Firsthand is situated on the second floor and features an interior design by Gelchop, a Tokyo-based 3D design group which has gained a lot of attention of late for their interior designs for cult fashion brand Sacai. Here, the aesthetic is based on the concept of ‘demolition and construction’, and sees used used industrial machinery, such as hand lifts, engine cranes and circular pipes repurposed as furniture, mixed and matched with displays made of glass encased objects and waste.
The pieces are intentionally places at the centre of the store to draw attention to the enormous waste of daily necessities and raising the issue of mass production and disposal along the way. The opening of the Firsthand store comes with three matching pop-ups. Specialised online retailer Blue Room offers streetwear items from the 1990s to 2000s, the heyday of Urahara, a hybrid style which basically is a Japanese reinterpretation of American leisurewear classics (until Aug 10). The pop-up by Placeholder, the New York City-based design studio of Sho Shibuya, is in fact a mini exhibition, his very first in Japan, of his Plastic Paper collection and a photo book, and is in fact an homage to the design of disposable plastic bags and a 100% biodegradable alternative to the environment that does not burden the environment (until Aug 10). Lastly, there’s a pop-up of Los Angeles-based sustainable fragrance brand DedCool, featuring not only fragrances, but also body wash, creams, scented candles, and even an eco-friendly detergent, or dedtergent in DedCool parlance (until Aug 30).
Firsthand
Miyashita Park, 6-20-10 Jingumae, Second Floor (Shibuya)
Tokyo 150-0001
Telephone: +81 3 68051828
Daily 11-9
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