Gear: Prologue

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Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Avery Trufelman?

  When Ivy Style came to Japan and put teenagers in collared shirts and khakis and ma-dress and cable knit sweaters, it kicked open the door for American fashion. But what came right on the heels of Ivy League style as the 60s turned into the 70s was a style called "heavy duty." Think like hiking boots and flannel and down vests. Some in Japan called it "the outdoor" version of Ivy.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Heavy duty style is the mix of outdoor and Ivy.

• 0:35Avery Trufelman?

  This is Shigeru Kaneko.

• 0:37Speaker 02

  My name is Kaneko Shigeru.

• 0:39Avery Trufelman?

  And with Shigeru acting as translator is Yoichiro.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Yoichiro Nakamura, I'm from Beams New York office.

• 0:46Avery Trufelman?

  Both men work for Beams, a legendary lifestyle clothing retailer with over 100 stores in Japan. And Beams is a perfect example of a Japanese store that started in 1976 doing American collegiate style and merged seamlessly into outdoorsy heavy duty.

• 1:04Speaker 01

  Beams started from student lifestyle, and I believe outdoor is already a part of students' lifestyle.

• 1:12Avery Trufelman?

  Shigeru is a head buyer for Beams, and he's been a huge fan of American outdoor companies since before he could buy these clothes in Japan.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  He started learning this brand, Patagonia or the other outdoor brand, from the magazine or catalog. And then finally, the real product comes into Japanese market.

• 1:34Avery Trufelman?

  I mean, Japan has mountains. What does Japanese outdoor wear like?

• 1:41Speaker 01

  In the modern times, we always wear like American or European jacket when we go climbing mountains. We just don't know how people used to wear in Japan when they are climbing mountains. He's only interested in American and European.

• 1:59Avery Trufelman?

  And to Shigeru, American outdoor wear has a distinct look in comparison to European outdoor wear.

• 2:05Speaker 01

  American jacket is very functional and it's there to protect people, but European jackets more for stylish design. Stylish, yeah. Stylish, yeah. And the fabric, in the end... So that's the comparison between these two. Like, American jacket looks ugly, but it's not necessarily ugly. It's very function-oriented.

• 2:28Avery Trufelman?

  And part of what gave American outdoors wear its style, its gourpy, ugly-not-ugly utility that Shigeru described, are its deep ties to the military. This is a big reason why American outdoor clothing looks the way it does. And the outdoor industry plays a role in why American soldiers look the way they do.

• 2:51Speaker 03

  There's a large team behind the designs for the army. It's not just me.

• 2:57Speaker 04

  The factory that we were in did military contracts. We know people who work on military contracts.

• 3:02Speaker 05

  L.L. Bean was able to bring that to the retail market from this military application.

• 3:07Speaker 06

  They might get issued 25% of their gear, but the other 75%, they're buying off of like the commercial market. You would have to go get civilian clothing, and so you just go to REI.

• 3:16Speaker 04

  Holy shit, the label straight up says Patagonia.

• 3:18Speaker 07

  We also leveraged the DNA of both the military and the outdoors.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Military wear is always the first that use the Kaleless technology.

• 3:28Avery Trufelman?

  The United States outdoor industry and the United States military are interwoven. Whether you partake in either of these institutions or not, both impact what you wear. These clothes shape the way the United States sees its role in the world and the way each of us see our role in nature. I'll explore how in GEAR, a seven-part series on articles of interest, coming October 22nd.