Collection Spring 2026

Age comes to us all, and in recent years corporate succession has been on my mind. Management succession is important, of course, but even more important—and more difficult—is cultural succession. The former is about numbers, the latter is about heart. The roots that support our entire company come from the heart that each and every individual employee puts in.

45R has always prided itself on its matsuri—festivals. We hold them at spring, summer, and new year’s, inviting customers to our stores to be welcomed by the whole company. Every employee gives their all at their assigned station—be it flower-viewing, shaved ice, or mochi-pounding—but a bird’s-eye view of the whole reveals perfect harmony and coordination. I’ve always enjoyed watching the scenes at our matsuri. They are 45R’s culture in action and the same sense of unity and powers of concentration reveal themselves in the garments we make.

But the mochi-pounding matsuri held at a certain store late last year was somehow lacking in luster. The employees welcomed customers with their usual smiles, and the customers themselves seemed satisfied. Still, something was missing. There was no overarching harmony, no innermost core. In other words, it felt that there was no heart to it, in the truest sense. That shock stayed with me into the new year.

For example, at this matsuri, water was boiled on a gas stove instead of over a wood-fueled fire as in the past. The fresh mochi were being shared around on plastic. This may seem like an overreaction, but I felt a sense of danger in the fact that no one seemed bothered by this.

At a matsuri as in business, the minor details matter. For one summer matsuri a few years ago, the employee charged with securing an ice supply for the shaved ice stall visited countless ice vendors to explain our needs, discuss their offerings, and carry out stringent taste testing to select the very best. “It’s only ice,” you might say, but taking the same approach to cotton, yarn, dyeing, and sewing, every day, is what makes our company what it is.

I hope to see us redouble our efforts to make matsuri places where that kind of commitment—the heart of 45R—can be cultivated and shared with employees.