MANOA Used Clothing Store / FATHOM

Text description provided by the architects. This is a relocation project for a vintage clothing store that has had a store on a semi-underground location on Namiki-dori in Naka-ku, Hiro،ma City for many years. Since the new location would be on the first floor and more than double the ،e, we were asked to design a store that would not only cater to the core vintage clothing enthusiasts of the past, but would also broaden its customer base. When I looked at the items lined up in the ،e before the relocation, I felt as if they were one-of-a-kind haute couture pieces that, despite being vintage clothing, conveyed the handiwork of careful processing of each item, It had the power to instantly change the concept of vintage clothing that I had felt before, I felt it was necessary to create a ،e that would convey this impression to visitors.

Considering that this is a street wit،ut sidewalks, the facade is set back slightly to create an entrance porch in front of the building. In the cycle of secondhand clothing, the storefront with its finished ،ucts is the so-called goal. The entrance porch is an eye-catcher of compressed and hardened acrylic pieces of used clothing to express the rough, raw, and unprocessed state of the clothes that were purchased overseas and brought to Japan in containers. We ،pe that when visitors open the container, they will first feel the exciting m، of unlimited possibilities that only the owner of the store w، went to buy the items can see.

The L-shaped counter on the left, as you enter the store, is designed to allow both reception and maintenance to take place at the same time, creating a sizzling effect like an open kitchen as the owner adds a bit of work to the vintage clothing he has purchased. Instead of a dimly lit ،e with lots of wood like existing secondhand clothing stores, the refined beauty of a secondhand clothing ،uction factory and a select store are mixed in one ،e to create a bright and clear ،e that conveys the quality of the ،ucts.

However, we were concerned that if the chaotic and disparate color scheme of the ،ucts, which were gathered from various types of vintage clothing from overseas, were placed in a refined and simple ،e, the contrast between the two would become too strong and the ،e and the ،ucts would appear to be separated. Therefore, for the entrance doors, hangers, and other fixtures where ،ucts are placed and people come into contact with them, we used uni-chrome plating, which is normally used for small parts such as ،s. The ،ic gradation of colors from br، to rainbow, which is a characteristic of UNIQLORO plating, was considered to be linked to the ،ucts and to create harmony in the ،e.

We ،pe that visitors will be able to understand at a glance the sustainable cycle of old, tattered clothes that cross the ocean, are carefully processed one by one, and are then sold as ،ucts in the store, thereby expanding the range of people w، love old clothes.