"Craft and functionality" Korean designer Kim Hyoksu tries to combine these two opposing elements in a single garment. Born and raised in Tokyo in 1982, Kim spent his youth in Kōenji and Harajuku, Tokyo which was in its infancy as a second-hand clothing mecca, hunting for second-hand clothes such as American casual and Euro sportswear. In 1993, he witnessed the start of the "Urahara movement", including the legendary "Nowhere" shop by NIGO® and Jun Takahashi and Hiroshi Fujiwara's "Good Enough". 

He became further absorbed in the world of fashion, before establishing his own label in 2021. Designer Kim Hyoksu graduated from women's design and pattern at Esmod Japon in 2006. Since then, while working in the industry as a designer for domestic and select shop brands, he discovered the potential of fusing sportswear and fashion. In 2018, he joined New Balance Japan, designing clothing to highlight trainers. 

While the collection was well received, Kim Hyoksu was driven by a desire to add the warmth of the vintage clothing he loves to modern tech wear. 

He had no intention of starting his own brand, but after making eight prototypes of his ideal clothes and showing them to acquaintances, he was approached by shop buyers and oversea sales agents, It was in 2021 that he took the plunges, set up his own business, and launched the brand KIMMY, named after his nickname. 

The patchwork of various fabrics that appear each season is the signature design of KIMMY. The asymmetrical arrangements of materials, which expresses 3 dimensionalities and depth, refer to the relational crafts of Japanese "Boro" and Korean "Bojagi". In both cases, the use of leftover fabrics and the uncalculated, irregular arrangement of the fabrics were attractive in Kim's eyes. "For me, patchwork has remained unchanged for decades," he says, highlighting the brand as a design that makes sense because it shares an aesthetic with his dual roots. 

A particular focus recently has been on "reverse": scraps of Western fabric and patterns from the 1800s are researched and reproduced as close as possible to the original quality. This is then combined with functional fabrics that culminate in modern technology. 

"Craft is not just about handwork, it can still be delved into" Kim Hyoksu enthuses. "I think that beyond combining craft and function, we can create something that has never been done before" See all the latest spring and summer 2024 collection from KIMMY which is presented under the theme "The past and future" 

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