CENTRAL_

It was 2002 when FUJITO started with just one model of denim jeans. Twelve years have passed, and FUJITO has growth now as a brand that offers a total range of apparel, simple and high quality “everyday wear” for gentlemen.

In the career of the designer Go Fujito, there is one turning point, and it is a man: Antonio Liverano, head of Liverano&Liverano, the bespoke tailor located in Florence. He entered the world of tailoring when he was seven, and after sixty years he is now a tailor of legendary status surrounded by the respect of his collegues, too.

Their relationship started six years ago, when Go Fujito brought one pair of his jeans to Antonio Liverano, and is still continuing today, as for the fourth time Antonio Liverano meets his customers at the trunk show held at FUJITO flagship store “Directors”.

This interview for CENTRAL was made during a break.
The translator is Liverano’s right-hand man, Takahiro Ozaki.

At first, Antonio Liverano was speaking little by little, choosing his words with care, but soon his tone became passionate talking about his style.


Go Fujito: You have come to Fukuoka just a few times on the occasion of trunk show but, what are your impressions about Fukuoka?
Antonio Liverano: Fukuoka has gradually changed. It seemed to be in a small town before, but every time I come here, I feel the streets, the buildings and the people have become more like the ones of a big city. I think that new creative people like you, Go, are changing the city.

GF: Let’s go back to the past. Do you remember the first time we met? Now that I have the chance, I’d really like to know your impressions at that time.
AL: Well… I felt you were a very active person, and a person who knew how to move, a young man full of willingness. These were my impressions.

GF: The first time I met you I was very nervous, because, you know, you are like a god in the tailoring world. Although it was our first encounter, you were very kind, giving me advices about jeans and even placing an order.
AL: That was because I felt you were a person with strong will. That’s why I ordered of your denim. Because I felt you knew how to move. I thought you were an intelligent person.



GF: Today I’m wearing a Liverano suit, and I think that even if I am not a tall person, the silouhette looks beautiful. Can you tell me something about the Liverano style?
AL: (Showing a jacket) The distinguishing part of the Liverano style are the front darts, the shape of the shoulders and the chest is also peculiar. These elements make the so called Liverano style.

GF: Making a suit, what is your motto?
AL: Be elegant without being too much dark. We are classic, but gentlemen of every age look good in our clothes, from 20 to 80 years old. We propose a contemporary classic.

GF: In fact, jackets standard colors are blue or navy but, you use very bold colors as red or pink for neckties and scarfs.
AL: Indeed, that is a piece of the Liverano world, I suppose. We transmit to our customers our particular view of the world, and they buy it along our clothes, I think. Elegance is part of our style. Looking at the market globally, it is said that the most elegant country in the world is Italy, and the second one is Japan. So, I think Japanese should be proud of that, and I want they enjoy more wearing a suit.

Antonio Liverano used the word “elegante” many times. That “view of the world” brought Go Fujito deep into fashion, although he had started sketeboarding in his hometown Sasebo and was fully immersed into street culture. “I think he will go very far. Maybe one day I’ll have to carry his bags!” said at the end Antonio Liverano speaking about Fujito.

Later we visited Go Fujito at Directors.
Today Go Fujito looks somehow relaxed. Even him, who flatters himself that he has “nerves of steel”, admits he still feels nervous in front of Antonio Liverano.
FUJITO produces also denim for Liverano&Liverano. Go Fujito talked about the birth of those beautiful jeans, the philosophy of the brand, the significance of working in Fukuoka, and also about the new media CENTRAL.

Let’s start from the first encounter between Go Fujito and Antonio Liverano.

“One of my retailer went to the atelier of Antonio Liverano in Florence wearing a pair of my denim, and Antonio Liverano seemed to be interested about them as he asked ‘which is the brand of those jeans?’.”

Nice words to hear from a foreign maestro that he only knew by name. So he decided to grab a pair of denim and personally visit him. But at that time, Go Fujito just wanted to go to Italy, he didn’t think about any collaboration.

“Then, he immediately made me some request about the silhouette and with a chalk drew a line on the jeans. But, frankly speaking, at that time I thought it was an impossible request for jeans. I’m not saying it is difficult, it’s just that denim has a certain percentage of shrinkage, averagely it shrinks about 2 centimeters when washed. But according to season and different type of washing, there are variations in shrinkage: it’s something you can hardly control. But Antonio Liverano is a man who works by millimeters, and I thought I couldn’t fulfill his accurate design. But anyway, when he asked me ‘can you make it?’, ‘Of course!’ I answered, what else I could say?! Then I came back and I spoke to the factory.”

Go Fujito went to Florence to show the first sample of denim, but it wasn’t successful. He came back to Japan with this first negative response, then spent days in making modifications. He repeatedly visited Antonio Liverano in Florence and Tokyo. His trust in the denim factory, and the conviction that he could make it with the japanese technique supported him. The third time was finally a success. It took two years to reach the production.

“It was a long way, but I think the result was a beautiful silhouette, something I could never imagine.”

The biggest difference between Liverano&Liverano jeans, and other denim made by FUJITO and other brands: the perfect fit sensation given by the fabric from the hips to the back of the knee.

“Typical jeans are necessarily a bit loose, but, to match a well tailored jacket, Antonio Liverano wanted to make a perfectly fitted jeans. This could be done by reducing only the back of the jeans. Normally, the front and the back pattern of the jeans are the same but, he folded them like trousers and drew a line to shape the back. I had never seen anyone doing that on jeans, but in this way the silhouette becomes ‘elegante’, as Antonio Liverano uses to say.”


But even those jeans, born between Fukuoka and Florence, once ran the risk of coming to nothing.
“It was when I brought him the final sample. At last the jeans were good enough to start the production but, ‘there is one thing that worries me’ Antonio Liverano said. It was the selvedge: because fabric cut on the selvedge tends to twist, he wanted to use fabric that stays in place. Just at the end I was in trouble.”

There were two ways: using an ordinary fabric without selvedge and making jeans that don’t twist, or, going on like that discussion never happened. All the effort and hardship so far and the thoughts about the jeans kept recurring in his mind. At heart, he wanted to make those jeans a reality. His thought was that of course he could choose to make them using non-selvedge denim, but doing so, FUJITO would have not been necessary anymore. He frankly confessed what he thought, and Antonio Liverano’s face, calm and gentle so far, changed at once. In the room, the atmosphere became heavy. Takahiro Ozaki, who acted as interpreter, spoke a word or two to Antonio Liverano, then a long silence. After that Antonio Liverano finally opened his mouth.

“‘Fine, if you two say so, let’s do it with this fabric.’ he said. I think that Takahiro Ozaki put in a good word for me, ‘I agree with him, we should make them with this fabric’ or something like that. It was like a tightrope walking but, it was great that we eventually made it a reality.”

The identity of his own brand, established because his love for jeans. Then the possibility to push it forward, thanks to the great capability of Antonio Liverano and his attitude to give chances to young people.
Then and now, FUJITO is still pursuing “real clothes”: casual wear whose major premise is to be simple and practical. Everyday wear, whether at work or not. For that reason, when Go Fujito designs, he thinks over the style he wants to create, and starting from it he goes backwards taking notes on the necessary items that particular style requires.

“I’ve never been inspired by god at my desk. But, good ideas for outfits suddenly strike me watching people. That happens in Japan and abroad as well. I can get excited if I see an homeless wearing a cap in an unusual way, for instance. I think that a great outfit is the one that reveals the personality or job of the man who wears it, otherwise it’s like the clothes wear you.”

For the 2014 fall/winter collection, there is a comeback of the theme of a few seasons ago: the logger.

“Once I met an englishman who sells used clothes, he had a long beard and was really a cool guy. He was dressed like a logger, too. Well, I came up with a story about him. He lives in self-sufficiency in a log-house in a remote mountain place. He is an activist and he advocates his cause not on the internet but through his pirate radio station. Because his antenna has a range of only 500 meters, the signal can be detected only by somebody who passes nearby by chance. This story is completely fiction but, I somewhat long for that kind of living, so I think that it’s related to the next collection.”

Every season, along with still pictures of the collection, the brand presents also a movie. The locations are many: sand dunes, skate parks or seashores.

“When I was thinking how to express more our view of the world, I realized that a movie could be a great tool. The atmosphere can be transmitted, too. Like ‘hey, this is the way of life we like’. Clothes are not interesting at all if they are just hanging on a rack. I wear this and I go there, enjoy that… clothes start becoming interesting when they follow a certain action, don’t they. If our movie give you such hint it’s good.”

He has not grasped yet the philosophy of the brand FUJITO. But, he likes tight stitches and the good feeling of wearing clothes made of high quality materials, that’s what he has understood after 10 years since the brand was established. Simple but high quality: a return to the starting point. The will of pursuing that idea as his philosophy is getting stronger. In that the lesson from Antonio Liverano has not played a small part.

Fukuoka as a base, first for Go Fujito, and then for FUJITO. “Why did you choose Fukuoka?” is a question he received from interviewer of several media. He couldn’t give a clear reason until now: he has finally gotten the answer.

“In Fukuoka there are my family and friends. Rents are cheap and the food is good, the airport is close and when I go abroad it’s more convenient to go by way of Korea via Incheon Airport, so, there are advantages under the aspect of the location. I thought it was a perfect place where I could do my work at my rhythm. But lately I was thinking that actually I didn’t choose to stay in Fukuoka intentionally, I have just remained here. Once I thought I had to go to Tokyo, so I could even go abroad. I’d say I’m the one who couldn’t move. But, what you do is more important than where you do it. I try to do my best in the place where I am now. Because I work in Fukuoka, I want to make it more meaningful. That’s why in March I was in the project of “thought”, the collective exhibition in Hasami, Nagasaki, that gathered creatives from Kyushu, and now I’m involved in the creation of this website, “CENTRAL”. Doing that, the circulation of goods, people and information grows, and the idea of ‘I cannot do it in Fukuoka’ is no more an excuse. I want that interesting stuff take off from Fukuoka and Kyushu to all Japan, and then to abroad.”



Go Fujito is putting his efforts in CENTRAL. He openly declares “I want to dispatch ‘biased information’!”.
“There is no need to throw the ball far. It’s just passing the ball to the nearest person. It’s an extreme argument but, like the logger’s radio, if the only ones who really want to listen come closer it’s a good thing. Last year, Koichi Futatsumata of “CASE-REAL” made “SHOE STOOL” for me, a stool especially designed to be used when you put on the shoes, as a special item for the 10th anniversary of FUJITO. We thought it was a great idea and we were excited of it. Well, it was selected as product of the year by the London magazine “Wallpaper”. In this way, without considering the mass, if you are genuinely convinced you are doing good, I think that somebody’s hearth will be definitely caught by your idea.”

During the interview, a small incident happened when Go Fujito asked an impression about himself to Antonio Liverano. Antonio Liverano commented about FUJITO brand: “Go is doing both sportswear, and classic wear like us. I think he should choose which one he wants to do”. Casual and classic, just when he thought he preserved this perfect mix, this advice came. Inside the shop the air froze for a moment. The last check on Liverano Jeans, again.
I asked to Go Fujito about that moment.

“I thought it was the natural advice from the point of view of Liverano. I do have to study classic wear more. But, wait! In the future, I could start a new FUJITO classic line. I think he gave me a really good hint!”

He is always positive. He changed a pinch into a chance, I think Go Fujito has just show me one part of his hidden energy.

Go Fujito
Fashion designer
Born in Sasebo in 1975. After working for “Vintage King” and “Denime Gear”, in 2002 he established his own brand “FUJITO”. In 2008 he opened the brand’s flagship store “Directors”.
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