New color "2.0"

Y: We talked about hats (part 2), but Nishioka-san put her heart and soul into each item, and because it's a child she gave birth to, she basically wants to keep selling the item once she makes it. Although she may make minor updates.

Y: I come from an apparel background, so like major brands, there are spring/summer and fall/winter seasons, and while classic models and classic colors like black remain the same, the color lineup for other items changes depending on the season.

Y: All outdoor apparel brands. Naturally, they'll keep the black color, but they'll change the other two colors, and when I told them, they said, "No, I like them all, so I don't want to change them all." But wait a minute, they're releasing new colors for Natty around Golden Week, and when I asked them how many colors they were planning to do, they said, "I'd like to do about three new colors." That would make six colors, but wait a minute. I mean, not even a major company would suddenly offer six colors for pants like that. In the end, they decided to keep the three existing colors and do three new ones.

N: The three colors are not the same, but they are made of the same fabric, but they have a wrinkled finish. The actual weight is the same, but the fabric looks lighter and fluffier.

H: It wasn't shiny to begin with, but now it has a matte texture.

N: The name is "Nutty Shorts 2.0". The only thing that has been updated is the price (laughs). We've increased the price by 500 yen for the wrinkled finish.

*Scheduled for release in late April 2023

Y: It's bright and pale.

N: Up until now, the colors have been Fox Brown, Sumi Black, and Mugwort Green, so the new colors also have Japanese names: Wasabi Green, Kinako Beige, and Kamoshika Gray.

Y: Nishioka-san had a hard time remembering "Kamoshika" (snake deer) (laughs).

N: When I was thinking about the grey, I was told "antelope" and I couldn't immediately picture its face. They say my legs are like antelope's, but antelope's legs are really thick.

H: They live in the mountains (laughs). I think they're a natural monument.

N: By offering a variety of colors, we wanted to incorporate a fashion element into our running wear. Some people even buy the whole set.

N: Just today, someone bought me a flamingo-colored T-shirt with ash gray socks (with pink toes and heels), and I was thinking, "They match!" as I shipped them out (laughs). As I packed up the brown-brown (MSC-013) cap and mustard T-shirt, I said, "They match!" It makes me really happy.

In addition, Long appears

Y: Before that, Nutty Long will be released. *Scheduled for release in early April 2023

N: These are my first long pants, so production is a little behind schedule (lol), but I want to make something I'm happy with, so I'm moving forward without compromising. They're a little late in the season, but I see them as something you can wear all year round. So I hope people will wear them before and after races. It's still cold in the mornings and evenings.

N: In the sample stage, it had zippers on the ankles and ventilation on the thighs.

Y: What's more, the first sample didn't have any front pockets. Not having a front pocket is incredibly inconvenient when wearing long pants, so after field testing we realized that we really needed one.

N: Adding the front pockets was extremely complicated and made the factory cry. Since it's a Natty, we wanted to keep the back pockets as part of the same series, and the first sample was very slim and tapered because we focused on the silhouette. When I tried them on, they were too tight because trail runners have developed calves (laughs).

Y: There are a lot of people with thick calves.

N: So I made it wider. I also thought that adding a zipper to the inside would make it easier to put on and take off before a race, but it would hurt if it touched the inside while running, so I decided it wasn't necessary. I tested it and listened to everyone's opinions, and that's how I came up with the shape. I think it's easy to wear.

H: I like the silhouette because it's not too tight around the butt. I guess that's because there are pockets in the back.

Y: The Natty has room on the sides, so I think I was able to successfully incorporate that feeling into the long pants. It looks slim, but the waist is loose. Also, there is a color change at the crotch of the shorts, but I wanted to keep that as an accent color in the long pants as well, but it ended up like this. (See photo)

N: I thought this was kind of awkward. I don't often get the chance to wear something like this (laughs). It looks like my mouth is open, which I don't think is right. I thought it would be easier to wear something the same color.

H: The sportiness is toned down without changing the color.

Y: The logo color will also be a matte black in the end. The shorts were silver and sporty, but the longs have a more subdued feel.

N: I was showing them our new products when I was at a sales location and they said, "It's really good, but I wish the logo color was the same color as the fabric." I got this from two different places on the same day. I immediately wanted to change it, so I contacted the company that does that and told them I would change the logo color.

H: It also looks like it would be easy to wear on a daily basis.

N: If a customer tells me something and I'm happy with it, I'll make the change. If I have a firm opinion on it, then I'll go with it. But if I think, "Oh, that's true," then I'm totally open to changing it. I always want to hear different opinions. I don't think I'm absolute. I do have my preferences, but if I agree with something, then I'll go ahead and do it.

Milestone-like

N: The name comes from the fact that I love music so much that I created a milestone Spotify playlist. Do you remember how that came about?

Y: Nishioka told me that when he creates a product from scratch, he wants to give it a name that people will remember. It's not just 5-inch running shorts, and it's not just a product number like 001. We were running and talking about what we could come up with, and when you think of something, you think of music, right? So wouldn't it be more "milestone-like" if we linked it to a classic song or album? I remember us talking about that. I thought, "That'd be great." So this time, we went with Bob Marley.

(H: I'd love to hear more about how Shuhei Nishioka is known for his music!)

N: I think Natty is really good. The meaning of "stylish" and "natural" is also great. It really struck me. The sound of the name, too.

Y: I'll probably talk about this again, but "Onion Feedy" wasn't well received by Nishioka-san at first.

N: Is that what you did?

Y: I came up with a lot of ideas myself, so I remember Nishioka's reaction quite well. Natty was a hit. But then I thought, wait a minute, I'll look into the meaning a little more, and when I looked it up, I found out it means something like "real," which I thought was great.

Y: I think onions are great and I recommend them. But they're like, "Onions? Onions?"

N: That's normal. I call it Onion now,

Y: It was something like, "Well, it's okay, isn't it?"

N: Yoshi was the godfather for both of them, even though he wasn't an employee at the time.

H: So how long does it take from conception to completion?

N: I think it took about a year.

Y: When Nishioka-san told me he wanted to make running shorts from scratch while we were still running together as friends, I remember thinking, "Really? This is a big challenge." That's why I knew I had to quickly establish a system to get pattern maker J to cooperate, otherwise I'd be in trouble. I remember when Nishioka-san showed me a sample for the umpteenth time, he said, "The pattern is so amazing."

N: For the T-shirts, I had collaborated by printing on existing bodies, and I had a sock manufacturer make the socks, but making pants was really difficult. People would often ask me at first, "Where do you make these?" and "It's probably an OEM from some manufacturer."

Y: That's certainly true if you look at the flow of items we've released so far.

N: I was able to say, "No, it's not like that, we do it from scratch." The sewing is done in a factory in Kyushu, but I really wanted to see the factory where my products are made. I want the people who make them to understand what kind of people are making them, and conversely, what kind of people are ordering them. There may be times in the future when I can't do it, but I want my face to come to mind when that happens. I wanted to see mass production, and take photos and videos. The image video is being shot in Aso, Kumamoto.

Y: It's also great that they shot the concept video in the mountains of Kyushu where they make it. Onion is sewn in Hokkaido, so they shot it in the mountains of Hokkaido.

N: I'd like to continue making things domestically if possible.

Y: So, when you were wearing the final product and ran the 90km race of Kurondo Rondo 2022, did you drop your phone?

N: This is fine, I'm off! But then I forgot to zip it up and it fell off. Everyone stopped me saying, "Hey, hey! It's falling off!" (laughs) I started running without noticing. You have to zip up your pants.

H: Maybe it would be better not to include that punchline (laughs).

The story of developing a new product from scratch was profound. To give you an idea of ​​how big it is, it's big enough to fit a wind shell. I wear the Natty Shorts on both road and trail, and I think the best thing about them is that there are no issues like lifting your legs or dropping things (lol). I'm already thinking about what new color to get.

Just like a headlamp, apparel items are gear and tools that are only as good as the way you use them. However, as you mentioned, even if the functionality is specialized for running, I felt that one of the brand's concepts was that the appearance doesn't look like it.

So, what kind of story will we hear next time? Look forward to it.

Text and composition: Ken Hagiwara