Some people lose their careers because of alcohol; others find new ones. Ian Segal, a former poetry editor at The New Yorker, was drinking late one night with friends in Tokyo. They talked about how cool it would be to start a new clothing label that combined all the things they loved – workwear and various cultural scenes. The next day, after sobering up a bit, Ian received a phone call from his buddy, who said they needed to meet for production samples. “I was like, ‘oh, this is actually happening.’”
For a brand that was born out of a drunk, late-night discussion, Nine Lives is quite coherent. It’s reimagined workwear, but in a way that’s never been done before – taking mid-century American work clothes and cutting them with a sort of dark, Japanese mod and punk edge. “We wanted to approach this as though heritage- and contemporary-wear are in the same boat,” says Ian. “As in, what if sashiko were invented today?”
The brand is a combination of a few people’s efforts. There’s Ian, the former New Yorker editor, and then Kotaro Sato, a Japanese clothing designer who used to work as a tattoo artist on LA’s Sunset strip. The third person in this trio is Masa Takayanagi, one of Yohji Yamamoto’s pattern makers, who gives Nine Lives its unique silhouettes.
Nine Lives is a Japanese workwear brand, but not in the vintage-repro way of Buzz Rickson or the campy style of Visvim. It’s dark, edgy, and feels slightly more rock ‘n roll. Their reverse shearling, for example, is something like what you might find in your grandmother’s closet – plush and soft, but recut as a trucker jacket. “I think of it as something a coked-out rockstar would wear in Los Angeles,” Ian laughs. (The version above is just a sample. The final model will have fur under the pocket flaps).
The other pieces are perhaps a bit more wearable for the average reader. Their asymmetrically-zipped cafe racer, for example, takes after traditional motorcycle jackets, but is made with a combination of indigo-dyed sashiko and yak leather (the second of which has been specially tanned to give it the hard look of horsehide, while still retaining its soft, buttery feel). They also have sashiko duster coats, rope-dyed sweats, and ombre sport coats with unique, punched jacquard weaves.
Hidden here are a lot of thoughtful details. Their five-pocket jeans have slightly angled coin pockets so you can actually use them; their leather jackets have specially-shaped pockets to hold sunglasses, located just below your rib cage so they don’t affect the jacket’s drape. The details sound so obviously better that you wonder why they’ve never been done before.
Ian tells me they strive to make clothes with a “volume knob” – garments that can be worn with bizcaz clothes to the office, but also with more avant garde labels to a bar. The company’s name actually comes from something Ian said that one night of heavy drinking. People are living nine lives these days and need different things for their different lifestyles. “That said, this is our first collection and our designs will only get wilder from here. Many of the pieces you see this season will form the bedrock of the company, something we build on for the future.”
Nine Lives will debut this season through a US store. It’s actually an exclusive agreement, which was hard fought after a couple of leading boutiques tried to get the brand onto their racks. I was sworn to secrecy, but expect the shop announcement to come later next month. This will probably be the most exciting new workwear label to hit stateside in a while.
For more on Nine Lives, see this Heddel’s article, where Gerald Ortiz runs through some of the line. Also, special thanks to Ethan Newton at Bryceland’s for shooting some of the photos you see in this post.
(photos via Ethan Newton, Nine Lives, and Gerald Ortiz)
