Notes "The Brand Anselm and Me" / ANCELLM

I started working on it, but I got so excited about it that I couldn't see the end, and it just lay dormant as a draft.

I received a message from ANCELLM that the first delivery of their 2022AW collection would be this weekend, so I finally got around to it, determined that this time it would be the one.

This is the first chapter. We will be preparing a second article focusing on items at a later date, so we hope you will read this as preparation.

Let's start by introducing the brand.

ANCELLM

An up-and-coming designer brand that launched in the 2021SS season.

The brand concept is to "propose changes over time from a different perspective."

They focus on selecting materials that will allow the clothes to last a long time and become more attractive with repeated wear, and they add designs that encourage this and skilled processing techniques by their craftsmen.

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"A proposal for aging from a different perspective"
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The more you wear it, the more beautiful its appearance will become.
We will propose this as a new value.

We have selected items with the view that materials, processing, etc. will change over time.
We hope you will enjoy using our products, which have been made by skilled craftsmen, for a long time.

Excerpted from ANCELLM official website.

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The designer, Kazuya Yamachika, has been in charge of production management for a famous Japanese designer brand for many years, and is a talented designer who has even experienced catwalk fashion. (I cannot say which brand due to his wishes, but it is a great brand that most fashion lovers know.)

With many years of experience in production management, he has a deep connection with the production background, and produces products utilizing the excellent techniques of fabric stores, sewing factories, and processing plants.

As I will explain later, in addition to his long relationship with the production background, Yamachika is a very kind person, and one of the big attractions is the friend price that only Yamachika can offer. It makes you wonder, "Can they really make this much and get this price?"

I don't really like to make suggestions based on cost performance, but when it comes to ANCELLM, I have no choice. The difference is about the equivalent of one or two 10,000 yen bills.

COELACANTH has been fortunate enough to carry this product since opening day and has received very positive feedback.

I grew up in a second-hand clothing field, and with the recent popularity of second-hand clothing, most visitors to COELACANTH come to buy second-hand clothing.

However, ANCELLM has captured the hearts of even those customers who love vintage clothing, bringing them great joy, just like how I fell in love with it after wearing almost exclusively vintage clothing for the past 10 years.

People who like vintage clothing probably have a deep knowledge not only of design, but also of the details and materials used. That's why I think the kind of craftsmanship that ANCELLM can talk about is so appealing to them.

That's the brand it is.

Now, let me tell you the story of how I met ANCELLM.

It's almost like a diary.

This is not directly related to ANCELLM products, so if you are not interested, please skip it. It's ridiculously long.

I met Yamachika and ANCELLM around the beginning of last year, around early spring.

I'm surprised that it's only been a little over a year. We've had so many conversations and I still have some very strong memories.

Do you remember the social media called "Clubhouse"?

This is an audio-based social networking site that gained insane popularity in Japan around January 2021, and then disappeared into the distant memory of everyone within a month, to the point where no one even mentioned it anymore.

I met Yamachika through a mutual friend on Clubhouse.

We sat together in a chat room where we were supposed to be talking about fashion, and Yamachika spoke in a relatively calm tone as he told me about how he had been in charge of production management in his previous job and that he now runs a brand.

The touch is serious, but this is just on the surface.

Actually, behind the scenes, or rather after this, a room with the fearsome name "Muddy Drinking Union" was set up in the middle of the night when the general public was asleep.

As the name suggests, the Doroshuku Kumiai is a chat room where alcohol lovers gather.

This is a crazy room where people talk about things that will be forgotten the next day, add up the alcohol content of the drinks they have had, and show off their superiority by adding up the most.

In this crazy room, Yamachika-san was called "Big Brother." I'm an only child, so of course I don't have an older brother, but for the first time in my life, I met someone who was called "Big Brother."

The image of him talking about fashion disappeared in an instant. My big brother Yamachika was a man who laughed loudly, made people laugh, and drank a lot. He was such a unique person that I can't help but laugh now.

Anyway, we became good friends, and after about two months, I was invited to the ANCELLM 2021AW exhibition in Tokyo.

It was my first time to attend an exhibition for buyers, and I was extremely nervous on the day. Even though it was still March, I was sweating profusely. Even though I had been so drunk and talked about nonsense every night, when I met him sober, I didn't know what to talk about.

Let's take a good look at ANCELLM. When I saw it in person for the first time, I was surprised at how much better it was than it looked on screen.

Yamachika-san must have been concerned about my nervous face because he soon brought me a beer. It was Asahi's Style Free, the official drink of the Mud Sake Association. After opening the bottle, my tension finally eased.

Even after the exhibition ended, the visitors continued to come and go, and in the end, I ended up drinking with the owner of a famous select shop in Kashiwa until about 3am. This was the start of the Mud Sake Association offline meetup.

At that time, COELACANTH was still an e-commerce store. Of course, I couldn't order the items, so I ordered them individually. The quality of the products, Yamachika's personality, and intoxication. A combination of various factors led me to spend a ridiculous amount of money, even now when I think about it.

The next day, I thought back to the night before and felt a strong desire to carry ANCELLM and put it on display in my store. As someone who has worn almost exclusively second-hand clothes for over 10 years, ANCELLM really struck a chord with me.

I had moved to Tokyo to open a second-hand clothing store, but it was at this time that I began to seriously consider opening a select shop.

Tokyo has a large number of stores, and it is easy for brands to compete with each other. If you want to sell your brand at COELACANTH, now is the time, since there are not many stores that stock your brand.

I finally got serious and started looking for a tenant.

After about six months, the current tenant for COELACANTH was decided.

I contacted Yamachika-san and was relieved to receive a favorable response.

At the exhibition, only individual orders are accepted, so although I knew it was rude, they kindly accepted my selfish request to display the products as merchandise at the opening.

I was truly overwhelmed with emotion.

Incidentally, if ANCELLM had not been one of the opening products at that time, COELACANTH's growth would have been much slower, and we would never have met Watanabe from çanoma.

When I think back on it, I really can't thank you enough.

When I examine brands, I also pay great attention to the personality of the designer.

Design will more or less reflect humanity, and this is essential for maintaining a long-term relationship.

The designers of the other brands are all wonderful, but ANCELLM is particularly notable.

If it weren't for Yamachika's personality, I might never have watched ANCELLM in person in the first place.

This is because the brand's entry point is "people" rather than "things."

The more we get to know each other, the more humorous he becomes (although it's only been a little over a year and most of the time we hang out drinking), but at the same time, he is extremely serious and meticulous when it comes to making clothes.

The coolness of this contrast cannot be conveyed to customers who we have never met in person. It is a privilege reserved only for us shop owners and buyers.

That's why I wrote it down a little honestly. I might get angry with Yamachika-san later, but I'll just quietly delete it and pretend it never happened.

As I wrote at the beginning, his rich personality has led to a deep connection with the production background, and he has realized a wonderful product. Like me, everyone loves Yamachika-san.

ANCELLM would not have been made without this person's personality.

COELACANTH was made possible by ANCELLM.

If I hadn't met ANCELLM, COELACANTH would still be operating only through e-commerce, and I would probably still be working lazily at home.

I would never have met any of you reading this, or any of the customers who visit our store.

It's a brand I have a strong attachment to and can't express how grateful I am for it.

Well, I've written quite a long and rambling post.

I wonder how many of you actually read this to the end.

I was typing frantically, so there may be some parts that are difficult to read, but I am truly grateful that you managed to get this far without giving up.

Tomorrow I'll write an article focusing on the items that have arrived.

I don't think it will be as long as today, but it will definitely be long.

Please don't give up.