THE BEST STREETWEAR & TOY DESIGN COLLABORATIONS (Part One : In Japan)

Streetwear and toy design have a lot in common. They take their roots in fashion, pop culture, surfing, skateboarding and urban cultures such as graffiti and hip-hop. Their codes are the same (creativity, rarity, etc.), they have the same popularity, the same audiences and both offer collections inspired by artists or designers.
Streetwear was born out the rise of surfing, skateboarding and the New York hip-hop movement in the 1980s. And, sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas and Vans were among the first to democratize « lifestyle » clothing at this time. However, streetwear took on another dimension in the 1990s with the Ura-Hara movement - named after the Harajuku district in Tokyo - whose idea was to bring art, music, sport and fashion even more together. The spearheads of this movement are Nigo (A Bathing Ape), Hiroshi Fujiwara (Fragment Design) or Jun Takahashi (Undercover). They started to develop collaborations of a new kind with artists and designers fed on the same cultures such as Bounty Hunter (JP), Michael Lau, Eric So (HK) or Kaws and Futura (NYC). This is how toy design was born, a movement also known as Designer Toys or Urban Vinyl. All together, they created bridges between art and fashion and shaped new horizons, well helped by the open-mindedness and the pronounced taste of the Japanese for originality and avant-garde projects.
In the early 2000s, music producers and influencers such as James Lavelle (Mo-Wax), Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Biggie or Lil Wayne also gave streetwear and toy design a new platform. And the advent of the Japanese art toy company Medicom Toy at the same time has amplified the phenomenon. The Be@rbrick - a cultural icon in its own - quickly became the missing link between art, fashion and pop culture and the showcase for many brands, in luxury as well as streetwear.

I - STREETWEAR MADE IN JAPAN

Today, Tomoaki Nagao (Nigo), Hiroshi Fujiwara and Jun Takahashi are now considered by many to be the originators of modern streetwear. They all created their own streetwear brand in the early 90s, and together, they opened the Nowhere store in Tokyo's Harajuku district in 1993. This concept store marked a turning point in the history of streetwear, with an offer combining products from major brands like Nike, Adidas… their own creations and various collectibles.

Now artistic director of Kenzo and known for his recent collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Uniqlo and Adidas, Nigo founded the brand A Bathing Ape in 1993. Easily recognizable by its monkey head logo and its in-house camos, the brand has also its mascot, Baby Milo.

The Be@rbrick is Bape's most coveted collectible. From Alpha Industries to Levi’s, and the inevitable Mastermind, Undercover, Neighborood or Readymade, no collaboration can resist to a Be@rbrick and the creations are often polished and haloed ny tailor-made clothes.

A Bathing Ape also regularly collaborates with distinguished artists such as Kaws, Stash, Eric Haze, Shepard Fairey, Hebru Brantley, Hajime Sorayama or Steven Harrington... the list is too long... and the Be@rbrick remains the medium of choice.

 

But the mascot is Baby Milo. She has also often been revisited by artists or taken the form of pop culture icons such as Star Wars characters of course, or Astroboy.

A Bathing Ape has also collaborated with the biggest toy licenses, such as Mattel's Barbie, Hasbro's Transformers or Bandaï's Gundams Gunpla.

Before officiating as a stylist, Nigo was a producer and a DJ fan of hip-hop. He met James Lavelle (Unkle / Mo-Wax) in the 90s. Together they produced records and toys with NYC’s street-artist Futura in particular, and several very good 12'' action figures, such as the "Agency Preventive Evil Series", always in collaboration with A Bathing Ape.

Nigo also founded the Human Made label in 2010, of which he is artistic director. With this brand or BBC Icecream, he made a few regressive editions of toys.

In 2003, he also created the Billionaire Boys Club brand with Pharrell Williams, who has since gone from rapper to fashion icon. Toy design is a leitmotif of the BBC project whose mascot is an astronaut. This has led to beautiful collaborations with Takeshi Murakami, André Saraiva, Hebru Brantley or Steven Harrington…

Billionaire Boys Club has also produced toys around Peanuts, Mickey and Astroboy licenses with Medicom Toy and Toycube.

A long-time partner of NIgo, Hiroshi Fujiwara, nicknamed the "Grandfather of streetwear", is another free spirit of streetwear from Harajuku. He broke away from his Goodenough brand in the early 2000s to create the design and consulting agency Fragment Design, with which he collaborates with the biggest luxury and streetwear brands. Among the most spectacular Toy Design collaborations, there were 3 series of exceptional Be@rbricks revisited in porcelain with the Cutany motif, in wood with the Japanese cabinetmaker Karimoku or in crystal with Baccarat. For the pop culture Be@rbricks, the licenses Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Peko Chan and Winnie the Pooh are the ones he favored.

Another Harajuku figure, Jun Takahashi founded the Undercover brand in 1993. Influenced by street culture, punk and Japanese culture, he has positioned himself in the high-end streetwear niche. Takahashi likes to tell stories, as evidenced by the "Underman" collection and the various characters created for the occasion. Underman is a fictional hero whose sole purpose is to recover souls stolen by evil forces and return them to their owners. The collectibles pay tribute to Underman but also to the evil soul thieves. Versions of the characters have been produced on vinyl figures and 12” action figures.

Jun Takahashi and Undercover are also responsible for the Bear Kaws Companion created and published in 2009 with New York artist KAWS.

Neighborhood was created by Shinsuke Takizawa, an enthusiast of motorcycles, workwear, military imagery, and London punk. He brings a more rebellious touch to the Uru-hara movement. With each new collection, Neighborhood offers ceramic art objects, and the incense chamber became the cornerstone of the project. Artists from Graffiti, fashion, streetwear or music enrich the series every time. Fututa, Mr Cartoon, Travis Scoot (Cactus Jack), Pharrell williams… the list is very long.

Neighborhood also has a mascot, a dog, named Zooth, and over time, he has had children: Big Shadow, Red, or Weeny… and toy design iterations are numerous, in collaboration with Medicom Toy or NH Toys.

Three other Toy Design collaborations stand out at Neighborhood.
First, a collaboration with the American artist Kaws in 2007, and his revisiting of the mascot Zooth, all bandaged up with the legendary Companion ears. More recently, Neighborhood has graced us with a new collaboration with Japanese artist Bounty Hunter, for a new two-headed "Skulls-Kun". Also very recently, the brand collaborated with tattoo artist Dr. Woo and Edison Chen from Clot for the edition of the surprising Kakigoriman Lamp.

It's hard to talk about Japanese Streetwear without introducing Honma Masaaki, founder of the Mastermind brand in 1997, surely the most luxurious extrapolation of streetwear. And this can be felt in the numerous editions of Be@rbricks of the brand, where gold, black and silver colors are omnipresent. Wood is also honored with 4 editions piloted by Japanese cabinetmaker Karimoku. The most surprising Be@rbricks however remain the "Crystal Decorate" in white and gold or black, released in collaboration with Lights Style and adorned with Swarovski crystals.

Even if it is not a brand per se, how can we not mention ATMOS? Based in Tokyo, this sneaker boutique created by Hidefumi Hommyo in 2000 is considered one of the temples of the sneaker world and is one of the brands - along with Bape, Fragment Design and Undercover - that have all contributed to developing the image of Japanese streetwear worldwide. And at Atmos, all collabs and anniversaries are an opportunity to edit a Be@rbrick. Among the most notable, the "Animal" Be@rbrick which takes the design of the Animal Pack 2.0 released in March 2018 with Nike, or the numerous Be@rbricks in collaboration with Staple Pigeon, Coca Cola...

In 2020, as part of an Atmos x Adidas collaboration with Chinese artist Kasing Lung, Atmos Bangkok released a limited edition of Mini Labubu, the artist's flagship character.

The same year, alongside the 'Duck Camo' Atmos x Nike Air Max collaboration, Atmos Tokyo teamed up with Takara Tomy, the Japanese branch of Transformers, for an ultra-limited edition of Optimus Prime in a 'Duck Camo' version.
More recently, Atmos Tokyo collaborated with Tokyo-based Toy Design producer Secret Base and The Simpsons licence to produce an X-Ray Bart Simpson figurine.

Stay tuned for "The best Streetwear X Toy Design collaborations in the US".