Thank you to the staff at Washo International!
We look forward to working together more.

We visited the showroom at Washo, a company that designs and produces apparel accessories with a focus on neckties. Weeks books created by Washo in the 2019 lineup include Cactus, Boar Piglets, Pin Dot, and Sunday Best Teddy.

We began by presenting Mr. Takahira with our gift of cookies specially made by Shiho Nakashima. Takahira has been our contact for the Bow & Tie Weeks series since the very beginning.

We discussed the Bow & Tie series with President Endo (center) and our contact Hatake (left).
Itoi: Necktie patterns have both a professional and a playful look to them. I’m so glad we made this series. It’s gotten really interesting now that we can create original designs.
Takahira: It’s especially fun when you get to see your Weeks book peek out from inside its cover or your bag.

Washo creates about 5,000 necktie designs a year.
President Endo: A true test of skill is being able to fit a design into a space as small as a necktie. It’s worked out perfectly for a book as compact as the Hobonichi Techo Weeks.
Itoi: We were meant for each other.

Takahira: After the Cool Biz trend started in Japan, and workers switched to business casual wear in the summer, neckties became a seasonal product. That’s when we began working with the Hobonichi Techo. A whole new world opened to us when we saw what kinds of things we could still make with the material.

Takahira uses this business card holder made from necktie material.
Takahira: The Hobonichi crew saw me using this, and it eventually led to the creation of the Mr. Saturn business card holder and pouch.
Itoi: It’s so fun seeing where these opportunities lead.

The showroom had an amazingly vast collection of necktie material samples.
President Endo: Those who were at Washo before me collected these samples in Europe. It’s a very valuable treasure.
Itoi: You’re able to use the trees that generations before you have planted.

The samples include many precious textiles over a hundred years old.
Takahira: We make new designs while using these as inspiration, but the threads and machinery from some of them aren’t even around anymore. Many of these are now impossible to recreate exactly.

A collection of printed textiles for silk scarves.
Itoi: I could look through this all day. I can just feel all the potential behind it.
President Endo: I’d love to find a way to make more use of this collection.

Thank you to the staff at Washo International!
We look forward to working together more.