Iron Heart’s Two Bosses: Shinichi Haraki and Giles Padmore
Iron Heart’s Two Bosses: Shinichi Haraki and
Giles Padmore
Shinichi Haraki, commonly referred to as ‘Boss’, worked in the Japanese
garment industry for near twenty-five years before founding Works, Inc. (The
Works Japan). His career in denim started at age 23 with Edwin as a pattern maker, progressing to
designer and then producer/director in just three years, designing in excess of
five thousand jeans for the brand.
Haraki-san left Edwin to start a consulting
company at 26, advising others on how to best establish production
facilities/factories for the manufacture of denim. It wasn’t until 2003 that
Iron Heart was launched; a brand originally aimed at the Japanese-American
motorcycle community and inspired by heavyweight 21oz denim.
Giles Padmore, known as ‘UK Boss’ by his Iron Heart family, started
working with Haraki-san in 2005. The Gosport native did not come from an
industry background like that of his Japanese business partner; he spent three
decades travelling the world as an ‘IT Guy’, working for large corporations and
small start-ups in Europe and Asia.
Although
Giles may not have had experience in the garment trade, his interest in denim
went as far back as his early teens. Over the years, he accumulated a
collection of Levi’s jeans
that would ultimately lead him to Haraki-san and Iron Heart.
The two
met in Los Angeles, California, after Giles contacted Haraki-san via e-mail
with a proposal to distribute Iron Heart globally. Fortunately for Giles, an
English-speaking member of the Iron Heart team was there to reply… Giles still
jokes to this day when asked, why Iron Heart?
“Haraki was the only one who responded to my
e-mails”.
This unlikely pairing of Hachioji and Gosport
has proven to be a huge success for the brand, having increased their market
size nearly fifteen-fold since the initial partnership. This did not come easy,
however, Haraki-san and Giles both sacrifice a lot of their down time to ensure
the brand continues to move forward.
Haraki-san
is the DNA, the aesthetic of Iron Heart. Giles is the outside perspective, the
understanding of the international market. They both share a deep passion and
genuine love for Iron Heart as well as a great deal of admiration for each
other, making it easy to overcome difficulties that may arise when working
together. Giles describes Haraki-san as being very ‘un-Japanese’ in regards to
his willingness to listen to suggestions and ideas.
“There is no rigid hierarchy. I find it very
easy, on a personal level, to work with Haraki”
This
more relaxed and open style of creative thinking has lead to some great
collaborations with western brands such as Scotland’s Alexander Leathers and
Canada’s Viberg Boot. In addition, Giles has introduced
what are now iconic Iron Heart products; The Devil’s Fit 666 slim cut jean and the slim tapered Beatle Buster jean.
These are jeans designed for a market that Haraki-san did not identify with
before Giles’s suggestion.
Although
collaborations have played an integral roll in the growth of Iron Heart, it is
still very much a Made in Japan brand, with all 21oz denim production coming
from one mill. Unfortunately, due to the increasing popularity of Iron Heart,
both the mill, which runs non-stop throughout the year, and factory are often
filled to capacity and struggle to keep up with demand.
In order to help prevent these limitations in
the future Haraki-san has purchased and donated machines to the factory, with
the intention of buying the factory in the next few years. Haraki-san
acknowledges that this is ‘an-old fashioned’ way of business, that fewer people
take risks but he wants to take the risk to help grow his brand as he believes
in his product.
It is clear that Japan will always be the home of Iron
Heart’s production but Gosport has become the driving force in sales. Creating
a ‘borderless’ market with its online store, popular forum, and an ever-growing
network of global stockists… Hachioji and Gosport seem like not such an
unlikely pairing.
1. What tenses are used in the article?
Over the years, he accumulated a collection
of Levi’s jeans = simple
past tense.
2. Restate one sentence in the article into gerund/to + infinitive
Working
for large corporations and small start-ups in Europe and Asia.
To work
for large corporations and small start-ups in Europe and Asia.
3. Show a use of personal pronouns
or possessive pronouns or reflexive pronouns in the article
Although
Giles may not have had experience in the garment trade, his interest in denim
went as far back as his early teens.
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