In conversation · Keisuke Matsumoto
Our DROP 024 knit collaborator on why he still works with one mill in Yamagata, and why he says no to more orders than he accepts.
Keisuke Matsumoto has run his knit studio in Yamagata for twenty-two years. He accepts work from four brands a year. We are one of them. This is how that conversation went, over two hours, in November.
M: You say no more than you say yes.
K: I say no to eighty percent of what is asked. The mill can only do what the mill can only do. If we say yes to more than that, every brand ends up with a worse garment. I would rather four brands get a correct garment than twelve brands get a polite one.
M: How do you decide which four?
K: The brand has to be able to answer: why does this garment exist? If they cannot answer, the garment does not deserve to exist, and I do not want to help it exist.
M: What was your first answer to our request?
K: I said no. I said no twice. You sent me the DROP 023 Field Coat — the one before this. I wore it for a week. Then I said yes. I needed to know you built things you would wear.
M: You have not said that to us before.
K: It is not important that you know. It is important that I know.
The full conversation, translated, runs to eleven thousand words. We are publishing it in a limited zine with the DROP 024 deliveries. If you ordered, you will receive one.
MADE SLOWLY. READ Slowly.