2025.08.14

Why Are People Obsessed with Vintage T-Shirts? Talking to Harajuku's Legendary "LABORATORY®" About the True Value & Future of Rock Tees

#LABORATORY

#Harajuku

#Used Clothes

#Vintage

#Rock T

#T-Shirt

*The text-to-speech feature is generated by AI,
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*The text-to-speech feature is generated by AI,
so there may be errors in the reading.

Located on Tonchan Street in Harajuku, the vintage shop LABORATORY® tells a fictional story as its concept: "A rock musician who gave up wealth and fame starts selling vintage clothing in a ruined place during their travels."

LABORATORY® opened in 2003 as a sister store to "BerBerJin" before becoming independent. For the past 23 years, it has continued to evolve with its one-of-a-kind worldview. To get a feel for the current state of rock T-shirts that have transcended generations, we sat down to speak with the store’s director, Yoshiyuki Maeda.

PROFILE

Yoshiyuki Maeda

LABORATORY® Director

It All Started With an Imaginary Story About a Rock Musician

LABORATORY® primarily deals in vintage rock T-shirts, but the range of items is broad. The reason why people say "If you're serious about finding a rock T, go to LABORATORY®" is actually quite simple.

"Among the many vintage influences, the style that impacted me most was that of 70s rock musicians. I was drawn to their T-shirts, leather jackets, bell-bottoms, accessories—those became the core of the shop from the very beginning."