The Coat-Obsessed Menswear Buyer Who Wrote the Book on Rare Outdoor Gear (EXCLUSIVE)
By his own admission, Shigeru Kaneko is obsessed with outdoors clothing. He’s so enthralled by this form of function-first fashion, in fact, that he's personally tracked down and collected over a hundred pieces of rare weather-resistant layering pieces.
“I think I fell in love with the specs designed to help people survive in extreme cold,” Kaneko tells Highsnobiety. And he’s decided to share that love with everyone.
Kaneko is the chief buyer for BEAMS PLUS, the ultra-popular Americana-themed imprint that's become one of the many international faces of Japanese retail giant BEAMS. He's created a book that, according to a document shared by BEAMS, is a kind of “bible for outdoor enthusiasts.”
OUTDOOR EXPEDITION BOOK 99 is the ninth volume of I AM BEAMS, a book series that explores the passions of the ardent clothing nerds who work for BEAMS.
The book is named after the 99 different topics that Kaneko explores, from his own vast collection to the Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University, a visit he describes as “the most fascinating part of creating the book. It was a dream-like space with over 8,000 catalogs from every brand imaginable."
Utah State University’s expansive records are so impressive that Kaneko is taking them on tour. The first stop was Tokyo, where he hosted the first EXPEDITION CLUB exhibition. The next stop is London.
Hosted at the University of Westminster’s Menswear Archive from October 24 to October 26, EXPEDITION CLUB collects Utah State University’s archival outdoor catalogs, which are usually kept under strict storage conditions; European-made alpine down garments from Sheffield-based vintage shop Rag Parade; and rare down parkas from Kaneko’s collection.
“It’s hard not to learn something from seeing Shigeru Kaneko’s incredible collection in full, whether it’s the craftsmanship involved in each piece, the evolution of fibers and textiles, or the emotional durability that keeps these items relevant, timeless, and beautiful 50, 60, or 70 years later,” says Chase Anderson, the co-creator of Utah State University’s Outdoor Recreation Archive. “It being displayed at the Westminster Archive shows that these garments aren’t reserved only for dirtbag climbers, hunters, and alpinists. The collection is a reminder that craft, performance, and timeless design are relevant no matter the decade.”
However, Kineko's impressive collection is going to face some stiff competition. By presenting Kaneko’s selection of rare American down jackets alongside Rag Trade’s European clothes, EXPEDITION CLUB knowingly creates a friendly competition between the two collections. The only problem is trying to choose between the two.
“You can’t pick a winner,” says Professor Andrew Groves of the University of Westminster. “Jojo [Elgarice, Rag Parade owner]’s archive captures the eccentric brilliance of European outdoor design: mountaineering gear, military surplus, and industrial workwear blurred into style. Shigeru’s collection reflects the American side: functional, scalable, built for anyone. Put together, they show how two cultures solved the same problems differently, and how those ideas now overlap in everything from streetwear to luxury.”
These exceptional pieces of hardy gear include a U.S. Air Force Survival Suit, supplied to pilots as emergency survival wear but also adopted by mountaineers scaling Mount Everest.
“It’s a fascinating piece because it demonstrates the strong connection between the U.S. military and the postwar outdoor industry,” says Clint Pumphrey, outdoor recreation archive curator at Utah State University. There’s also the 1950s Benjamin Edgington Down Coat, used on some of the first Everest expeditions and described simply by Elgarice as “a proper jacket.”
Which, when you think about it, sums up the entire project.
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