Popular brand “epine” suddenly declares brand suspension, direct interview with two founders – WWDJAPAN

On the night of October 12th, the popular Instagram brand “epine” suddenly posted a message on the Instagram accounts of its two founders, Ayayaka Yamamoto (@ayayaka1019) and Mai Suzuki (@ym14me), announcing that one year later. announced that the brand will be suspended on November 21, 2024. Epine Official, which operates the brand, had annual sales of approximately 1 billion yen in the most recent fiscal year ending November 2022. Since its incorporation in December 2018, sales have been steadily increasing, and the sudden announcement of a hiatus came at the peak of its popularity, with the company expected to reach its highest ever sales in the November 2023 fiscal year. What happened to “epine”? It directly hit the two founders.

Since our founding, we have been making decisions and working together as a team.

The “Epinu” brand was founded on November 21, 2015. It was launched by Designer Yamamoto, Representative Director and CEO, and Director Suzuki, COO. “Even though we started it, it was a personal business. I put together 1 million yen and Suzuki 200,000 yen to start an e-commerce shop using Instagram,” CEO Yamamoto said. CEO Yamamoto had some experience as a buyer at a vintage shop, but he didn’t have any connections in the industry, and COO Suzuki was still a university student. In order to save money on rent, CEO Yamamoto moved into the home of Suzuki, a university student, and initially spent most of the proceeds on buying and selling bicycles. “The first month’s sales were 300,000 yen, and the first year was 8 million yen.My salary for the first year and a half after launch was 50,000 yen, and for the second and third years it was 100,000 yen. Luckily, I was able to cover my rent with my allowance and it didn’t cost much (lol), so I used most of my sales to buy things other than the minimum living expenses,” says COO Suzuki.

At first, I bought vintage clothes and ordered clothes that matched my taste from Korea, but one day when I ordered about 100 pieces in Korea, I was told that it would be better to have them made at a sewing factory, so I started creating original items. Started selling. The tote bag, which is the biggest hit, has sold over 200,000 units in total. However, there are currently only two or three companies outsourcing manufacturing, and the main one is the OEM company that originally outsourced production. Due to increased sales, the company was incorporated on December 25, 2018 in order to open a street-level store in a corner behind Omotesando Hills in February 2019. In February 2021, we opened a shop in Lumine Shinjuku, which was a long-awaited goal.

Even though the company’s annual sales have reached 1 billion yen, it is still running debt-free, with no borrowings. Everything is decided by the two of us, and most of the work is actually carried out by the two of us. CEO Yamamoto says, “Ever since we launched, we’ve never left it up to others to take even a single photo.We’ve decided on everything, from the small things to the big ones.” CEO Yamamoto will be in charge of design direction, Instagram operations, online shop management, and styling, while COO Suzuki will be in charge of hair and makeup, art direction, design direction, operation and management of indirect departments such as accounting and logistics, and PR. CEO Yamamoto still handles all aspects of Epinu’s visuals, including the lookbook, from shooting and editing to posting on Instagram.

In fact, the two still live together. “We don’t really have a partner relationship. It’s been like that since we started, but I think it’s most efficient for the two of us to be together, and since all the decisions for “Epinu” are made by the two of us, it’s best to be together. It’s the best. By the way, I’m not good at housework in general, so I let Mai do it all.” Although they have an office in Shinjuku, it is basically a distribution warehouse, and the house where they live is like an atelier, residence, and office. The two of them often post about their travel destinations on Instagram, which also includes research and photography, but “I use a single-lens reflex camera for photography, but most of the other work is done on my smartphone.” (CEO Yamamoto) . The office is exactly where the two of them are.

The brand hiatus was triggered by the opening of the Lumine store three years ago.

I started thinking about suspending the brand after opening a Lumine store in February 2021. “I started thinking about suspending the brand around the time I opened a store in Lumine.Opening a store in Lumine was one of the dreams I had in mind when I first started. However, as long as we have customers who support us, shop staff and other employees who support us, and suppliers, we can’t say that.Thankfully, sales have continued to rise steadily. , I always feel like “now is the busiest time,” and that’s the case even at this point,” CEO Yamamoto said.

They opened a store in Shibuya 109 in March of this year, but COO Suzuki said, “At first, we turned down the offer because we were considering suspending the brand, the distance between Shinjuku and Shibuya is too close, and we couldn’t handle it anymore.However,… As we visited many times and talked about various things, there was a moment when the two of us were immediately touched.” At 45 tsubo, it is the largest space even including the street-level store, but “Thanks to the collaboration unique to Shibuya 109, we have gained new customers.There has been no cannibalization with the so-called Shinjuku store, and thanks to that, the number of customers in the fiscal year ending November 2023 has increased. This is likely to be the highest sales ever.” (COO Suzuki)

So why the hiatus? “The two of us really made all the decisions for “Epinu”.Every day we made decisions, from small things to big ones.If there was no “mistake” in the design, we would never be able to make “Epinu”. ” No matter what the scale has been at any time over the past eight years, I have always felt that it was normal for “Epinu,” CEO Yamamoto said in an Instagram post. After much consideration, the decision was to temporarily suspend the brand. “Of course, we know that there are other ways to do it, and in fact, we have received many offers of acquisitions. Some of them were for unbelievable amounts. It just didn’t sit right with me.Even if the brand “Epinu” remained, I couldn’t accept seeing “Epinu” in the city with colors and designs that we wouldn’t do. I want to burn out until the day I’m born again.Also, even if I’m reborn, I want to do “Epinu” with Mai, and I want to keep the Epinu that has been loved by the fans as much as possible.That’s why I announced it a year ago. That was our conclusion. We thought this was the only option.”

From now on?

Starting with the opening of the Nagoya Parco store on November 17th next month, Hiroshima Parco will open next January (January 2nd to 8th), Isetan Shinjuku Main Store in February, and Shizuoka Parco in March (March 20th to 26th). ), Sapporo Parco (April 12th to 18th) & Fukuoka Parco (April 26th to May 6th), Hankyu Umeda Main Store in May, and a flurry of pop-up shops nationwide. touring. A mook book is also scheduled to be published by Takarajimasha within the year. “We have many other collaborations planned.” COO Suzuki said, “This past year has truly been the finale.It’s the final chapter of the first act, so to speak.For the last day, I will do my best to express my gratitude to all the fans.” I want to tell”.

Regarding her plans after the hiatus, she said, “Honestly, I haven’t decided on anything yet. In fact, I can’t think of anything.However, in the eight years since the brand was launched, I have poured all of my time into Epinu 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I’ve come from a world of two people, so I want to improve my photography, design, management, and everything else.To that end, I want to expand my network of contacts in the apparel industry, and I also want to study more. ” said CEO Yamamoto. COO Suzuki said, “Aya (CEO Yamamoto) has never taken a day off from work.I also want to study art properly and pursue creativity in general.I like cooking, so I would like to study cooking as well. I also want to study Korean for my favorite country, Korea. Oh, and I also want to fall in love (lol).” “What hasn’t changed is that Mai and I are together.Even if we get married, have children, and start our own families, we still want to live together,” says CEO Yamamoto. “I do the housework, so we sometimes fight over trivial things like messy clothes. But we’ve always been together. So even if our life stages change or we’re born again, we’ll always be together.” (COO Suzuki) .