nss Discovers: Resquad

As we reported on a few months ago we had a little feature on the up and coming Japanese brand Resquad. This perspective has now blossomed into a new format, we’re calling nss discovers, where we put a focus on lesser known brands that we think deserve special attention.

We wanted to return to where we started and have a deeper talk with Resquad about the brand, their process, and the future. Check our interview below:

Photo credit: Kenta Iriguchi

1) For those that still don't know the brand, please give an introduction and tell us a little bit about the concept behind the label?

RESQUAD was officially started in 2015. The core of the brand was sprouted from the brand named RESCUE SQUAD, which is a brand based on around concept of ‘’firefighters’’ and ’’rescue services, from approximately 20 years ago in Harajuku. The target was first set upon the youngsters who came to Harajuku, in an attempt to achieve their satisfaction and needs. RESQUAD provides a broader point of view based on ’’rescue’’ and ‘’near future’ aesthetics.

Moreover, our priority of conducting this purpose is to disseminate the inspiration of ‘’RESCUE SPIRIT’’. To do so, we have started the technical-wear brand and store-designing to reach this goal for a period of time.

2) You have a quite unique take on technical clothing, how did you arrive at taking inspiration from fire fighting and medical services?

The reason we ending up using this material is originally because the RESCUE related gear we saw all used certain kinds of technical material.

For instance, the firefighter uniform would use Gore-Tex or Kevlar, which is a unique and technical material. All this got us thinking that Tyvek, probably could be considered as a symbolic feature of RESQUAD, which is the material used on certain rescue squad apparel such as ‘’HAZ MAT’’.

3) Please tell us a bit about your design process?

The whole design process is mainly conducted with a design team activated in Tokyo. Firstly, we set a motif with the kinds of items and styling. Secondly, towards the items, the members of the design team work on applying our designs to the items. Thirdly, we constantly check the balance while proceeding with the process. Last but not least, even after releasing the items, we collect the customers’ feedback for our next release as a ritual.

4) Each season has an individual concept, please tell us more about that?

We consider the ‘’global circumstances’’ while setting the motif for every season. However, there is one thing for sure, the motif should be connected with the concept of ‘’RESCUE’’. Instead of putting the focus on trends, we concentrate on sending our own message.

5) There are a few other brands and sub-labels connected to Resquad, can you tell us about them?

Here are the brands connected with RESQUAD.

HIKESHI: This is a brand with ‘’the Japanese spirit’’ and ‘’the culture of Japanese reflection’’. Although we, as Japanese, who traditionally wearing such cultural clothes as the Han-Ten and Kimonos, they are not commonly connected with our daily life. Hence, we tend to disseminate these cultural wearings by developing the brand, HIKESHI. HIKESHI, which is the Japanese interpretation to ‘’RESCUE’’.

RESCUE SQUAD: This is a brand mainly focused on casual style including the series of ‘’medical services’’ based on worldly heroism. Compare to RESQUAD, the time-setting of RESCUE SQUAD is from the past to the current.

RESQUAD: In comparison with RESCUE SQUAD, the time-setting of RESCUE is towards the near future.