Interview by Jeff Carvalho and Frank the Butcher.
The Burton & Channel Islands Flagship Store in Los Angeles is opening just days from now. The Los Angeles Flagship store brings together under one roof all apsects of the Burton board sports offering: snow, surf, and skate. Last week, Burton and Channel Islands gathered their extended family: rides, surfers, skaters, and friends in Los Angeles, to celebrate the opening of their biggest store to date. The long list of celebrities included none other than Hiroshi Fujiwara, who came in from Japan for the event. We had the opportunity to speak with him about Burton, snow sports, and more...
Lets talk about your relationship with Burton. Can you talk a bit about what active sports fashion was like in Tokyo during the early 90's?
HF - I've know Burton for over 10 years. I worked with Hiroki Nakamura (who now does Visvim). He used to work for Burton and I met him when I started snowboarding. Burton was maybe the only company who was in the snowboard business.
What was the perception of Burton back then? Was it a cool brand seen on the street as something the kids were wearing?
HF - It was just a snowboard brand. Not many fashion[able] brands were making high tech mountain jackets. Maybe Burton, North Face, Patagonia... not many fashion people picked it up. I started wearing it because I was snowboarding every week and was wearing mountain gear on the streets.
What was the perception when people saw it on the streets? Was it something new [and] exciting to see Burton on the streets?
HF - Yeah I think so. It was a new brand. [People] didn't know what Burton was.
Burton like Nike are a multibillion dollar company but they still have that connection with the street consumer and are still able to produce innovative goods... the translation is still there. They can still speak to the kid on the street and still do business on the level of a multibillion company. Why do you think Burton can stay above that curve?
HF - Because Burton has... real gear. Burton is always on the mountains and not just a fashion brand.
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