2024.03.13

Why Kunii of 'mita sneakers' Got Involved with 'Herringbone Footwear'

On February 29 this year, a footwear specialty store, 'Herringbone Footwear', opened within the landmark store 'SELECT by BAYCREW'S', which opened in the Toranomon Hills Station Tower. The external director is Hideyuki Kunii of 'mita sneakers'.

We spoke with Kunii to delve into the reasons for his involvement in the project and the concept of 'Herringbone Footwear'.

I Initially Intended to Decline the Project

The Toranomon Hills Station Tower, a new attraction in Tokyo, covers a large floor space of about 800 square meters across the second and third floors. It opened on February 29 with the theme of enjoying a rich lifestyle. 'Herringbone Footwear' is featured as a footwear specialty store within it. Kunii shares the backstory of accepting the role of external director.

Kunii, who accepted the role of external director for 'Herringbone Footwear', takes on a new challenge. The use of large signage inside the store is also a highlight.

"First, I heard about the large-scale urban development centered around Toranomon before the outbreak of the coronavirus, the construction of a building directly connected to Toranomon Hills Station (Station Tower), and the new project that BAYCREW'S had been planning under wraps. The so-called 'BAYCREW'S stores' had already been launched in regional cities such as Sendai, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.

"With the flagship store opening in Tokyo, simply replicating what had been done in regional cities wouldn't be interesting. So, under the premise of taking on challenges never attempted before, plans were made for a BAYCREW'S operated footwear specialty store. A certain person, whose name I'll withhold, suggested my name and the ball got rolling."

Kunii initially thought of declining when he first heard about the project. Around that time, the COVID-19 pandemic had just hit, and the future was uncertain. He had been in a situation where he wanted to try new things but was unable to for the past few years. And given that there were numerous sneaker projects taking 2-3 years to materialize, he was in quite a dilemma.

A large guardrail is installed in the store. The interior design was intentionally made inorganic so that the colorful sneakers stand out more.

"Despite that situation, I came to realize that I had never taken the opportunity to leverage the experience I had cultivated to start a new store. I had been involved in inline planning, collaborations with retail stores, and sales promotion projects, but a firsthand opportunity of a new store was yet to come.

"When I took an overview of the current Japanese sneaker scene, I realized that it was imperative to push in a 'new direction'. And although I was involved with 'mita sneakers', I wanted to take on this challenge if it involved doing things I hadn't done before. Given that I received positive responses from the manufacturers I was in touch with, that further reinforced my decision to take on this project."

For both BAYCREW'S and Kunii, this project was a new challenge.