The history of BEARS'

The history of BEARS' began in 1992.
The president opened it as a select shop.
Naturally, I don't know much about that time.
It seems they handled brands like LEVI'S and Saint James.
After a series of twists and turns, they changed from a select shop to a vintage shop.
At the time, second-hand clothing was a big boom in Japan.
The concept of vintage jeans was born in Japan too.
BEARS' handled vintage jeans and denim jackets.
There were many 66 models, as well as Big E and XX models.
They also handled vintage sweatshirts and souvenir jackets.
However, when the popularity of vintage and the stock of products started to dry up, they started handling DENIME.
The vintage boom in Japan peaked in the 1990s, and peaked out soon after.
And from there, DENIME opened the door to a new era.
Although BEARS' didn't carry it, EVISU also opened up a new era together with denim.
After BEARS' started handling denim, it became a shop that mainly handled Japanese jeans brands.
The prototype of BEARS' as we know it today was born.
And after the vintage boom, denim became very popular.
At that time, I bought my first denim as a customer at BEARS'.
I think it was around 1995. I don't remember exactly.
At that time, BEARS' made a lot of money from the denim boom. Haha
And I think it was around 2001, when the denim boom ended.
I started working at BEARS'.
The president became the president of another company, and I suddenly became the manager of BEARS'. Haha
Well, I was pretty much the only one working there at the time. Haha
At that time, BEARS' was completely different from what it is now.
I think the brands they carried were DENIME, ETERNAL, and PHERROW'S. I think those were the only three decent brands.
After the big boom of DENIME, BEARS' was not doing so well, but the ETERNAL fade model was a little popular, so we were somehow able to survive.
But it was a tightrope walk where we could have gone bankrupt at any time.
I was also a young guy around 21 years old with no experience in the industry.
I became a manager in such a situation, so my days were hellish. Haha
There were many things I didn't know, so I called the president almost every day to ask questions, bought and read books to study, studied the products, and even started making a website from a situation where I had no knowledge at all, buying and reading books while I was making it.
The first few years were hellish.
I'm sure someone told me to give up all hope. Haha
We opened at 12 o'clock, worked and studied at the same time.
When we closed at 9 p.m., we studied and created the website.
We couldn't hire people because our sales were low.
I did everything by myself.
Work started at 12 noon and finished at 3 a.m.
At the worst, I worked until 6 a.m. And I only had about one day off a month. Haha
Even so, I made a lot of mistakes and didn't get any results, so my boss got really angry with me.
I continued this lifestyle for about three years.
Even though I was living that kind of life, I had a girlfriend. lol
And no matter how busy and tired I am, I miss her sometimes.
One day, I went on a date with her on one of my few days off, and I took her home on my motorcycle.
Then, I rode my motorcycle back to the store to work.
But when I woke up next, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling, and next to me was my girlfriend, looking at me worriedly.
It seems that I had an accident on the way home and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
I have no memory of what happened after I broke up with her.
I remember getting on the motorcycle, but I don't remember anything after that, so I don't know how the accident happened.
However, while being questioned by the police, I heard the testimony of witnesses and it made sense.
It seems that I was asleep while driving the motorcycle. Haha
Apparently, passersby and cyclists who passed by saw it.
My bike was swerving, my face was completely down, and the person who came near me and helped me when I fell said that I was snoring at the time. Haha
I had so little time to rest and sleep, but I pushed myself to go see her and pushed myself too hard, so on the way back, my body reached its limit.
Even in such a situation, I couldn't resist my youth. lol
However, I didn't get any serious injuries, so it's a funny story now, but it was really dangerous.
If I had been sleeping in a busy area, I could have been hit by a car behind and seriously injured.
At worst, it could have been a life-threatening problem.
Even if that hadn't happened, I could have hurt someone other than myself.
When you think about it like that, this unfortunate accident was really a lucky accident. Haha
In the meantime, I started to sell a little on online shops.
I also got more part-time jobs, and I was able to take some time off.
So the president and I had a meeting and decided to move forward with Japanese jeans, and we started collecting various brands.
We gradually increased the number of brands we handled, including FULL COUNT, WARE HOUSE, SUGAR CANE, and SAMURAI JEANS.
We also started making custom models for FULL COUNT every year, and all of them were well-received.
Our sales gradually increased, and we started handling brands like MOMOTARO JEANS and JAPAN BLUE JEANS. We also continued to handle more brands, including FOB FACTORY, UES, and STUDIO D'ARTISAN.
Our sales continued to grow in proportion to that, and we were looking to hire more staff.
At that time, by some miracle, I met Kikuchi.
I was reading a job information magazine at a convenience store in order to post an ad in it.
Kikuchi, who worked at a second-hand clothing store nearby, happened to pass by and called out to me.
Taguchi-san, are you changing jobs? Are you quitting BEARS'?
I answered.
I'm not quitting. Haha, we're hiring new people at BEARS'.
Kikuchi then said,
I'll do it! I'll do it! I'd love to do it! Please interview me!
And then I ended up hiring Kikuchi.
I think this was around 2006.
If Kikuchi hadn't passed by then, I might never have hired him.
When I think about it, it was an important moment.
And then I welcomed an important coworker, Kikuchi.
This is where BEARS' golden age began.
But it would soon fall into disuse. Haha
Anyway, this is getting quite long, so I'll continue with part 2.
That's all for today.
Thank you to everyone who read this long article to the end. Haha

This is unrelated to the story, but this sign has been there since BEARS' first started. Haha