“KHOKI”, a brand producing by a design team under the concept of “production in which people’s hands are visible”, started up in 2019. While having a sense of warmth derived from sure craftsmanship, at the same time, their clothes have an avant-garde, incomplete aspect also, which allows for freedom for the wearer to wear as they please and have fun with it. KHOKI is one such attention gathering brand. In the 23 AW season, they presented their very first runway show at Tokyo, and experienced participating in their very first overseas showroom. We spoke to this brand with great vigor as if to shoot a flying bird, on its road up to now and their plans for the future.

First, please give us an overview of your present scale of business.

Presently, we have 26 accounts in Japan, and from 24SS, we will have 6 accounts overseas. Ever since we incorporated and increased our number of styles, we have been seeing a steady increase of accounts. Overseas delivery starts from the 23AW season, and we feel our task is to raise digestion ratio. Our overseas accounts are centered mainly around Asian regions, so we hope to spread our business to more worldwide markets in the future.

Developments since the launching of the brand up to now has been extremely rapid, hasn’t it?

When we first stated the brand, we didn’t see ourselves as producing for business, but by word of mouth, buyers began to come to our exhibition, one after another. All team members felt the prospect of KHOKI succeeding as a business, so at that point, we incorporated, which led to now. At first, our production capacity was low, so we were selling merely 7 or 8 styles, along with paintings, which was a total state of chaos. But around 2022, we finally become organized enough to compose a line-up good enough to satisfy buyers. At which point, we applied to TFA, became an award-winner, presented a show, started overseas developments. We are in a state that everything started to move all at once, non-stop. The speed at which the brand has moved forward since its start has been so fast, we are surprised ourselves.

How was your experience of participating at the Paris showroom for the very first time?

We were recognized as a new-age brand with a craftmanship core. We were also highly praised for being wearable as town-wear, and received orders from our very first showroom participation, so we intend to continue overseas sales from here on.

This past March, you experienced your very first runway show at Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO. With what kind of mindset did you face doing this show?

First, we made it a point to face the creation of the collection with the same tension, same mindset as usual. As for the show itself, we discussed how we can make the collection we created into an interesting first show, and as a result, we flagged “fantasy” as an easily shared theme among all team members, and created a worldview of mysterious residents wearing KHOKI clothes.

How was the reaction to your show?

From right after the show, we have enjoyed an increase in contact from overseas medias, stylists, which proved to us that we had reached classes we had never reached before, so it is safe to say that we received grave reactions! Creating such a show in such an abbreviated time with this team, has given us great confidence. On the other hand, we felt, how to express and present future creations, future collections, including the 24SS season, will be a huge task for us.

What prompted you to apply to the award?

From a life-stage point of view, we had reached a turning point as a team, so we wanted to do something festive and decided to apply. KHOKI is often viewed as being an in-house-like, withdrawn, core image, so we felt it might be fun to purposely go mainstream, at this timing.

Winning the award, were you able to spend a festive year as you had wished?

Yes! It was definitely festive, and we have been going on non-stop for six months, so we’re absolutely exhausted! (laugh) Interacting with other designers whom we did not have any contact with before, was also a refreshing experience.

Please tell us your future prospects.

I do not think there are any Japanese design teams developing overseas, so it would be great if we could be such a brand. Furthermore, be experiencing a show at Tokyo, we have realized the importance of sales with a sure, sturdy foothold. We would also like to challenge presenting a show overseas. For this, we think it is important to raise our strength as a team, thereby increasing the attractiveness of KHOKI, and promoting growth.

Finally, a word for those brands, designers considering applying to the award, please.

By applying to the award and winning it, there has been so much we experienced for the first time ever, and our vision as a brand has changed greatly. If you wish to challenge yourself in doing something, or wish to broaden the possibilities of your brand, please, do apply!