niime 百科

Encyclopedia of niime

Tamaki Niime created a new era of the female image, and she has embodied it herself. The brand name “玉木新雌 (tamaki niime)”, which was named in 2004 at the time her brand was launched, seems to have deep thought and ideal of Tamaki beyond the concept of a fashion brand.

Even having motivation and hope, Tamaki once collided with the reality of society as a new graduate employee of a major company.  I would like to know much more about how ‘tamaki niime/玉木新雌’ was founded from her words at a young age.

Tamaki

When I was working for a company, I created some clothes and other various things at home.  I was initially planning to have my own company, but I didn’t know much about society, so I decided to work to have real experience to understand the social structure.  I got a job as a pattern maker because it was a time when you used a CAD instead of drawing by hand. I wanted to master the technique and also I wanted to upgrade my skills.  That was my goal. I had already learned how to create when I was a student at a technical college; however, I didn’t know how the creation fit into society. I knew the system in part; how the companies and workers actually make and sell, but I wanted to understand the whole flow.  In that case, I could infiltrate the company to research. A point in favour of the company was its fabrics; I was not very interested in it at that point. It was a fabric trading company that has a division dealing with clothing. I had a small hope that I might be able to learn the details if I wanted to observe how to make fabric.  Also, it was a major enterprise, and almost ten other designers who are related to design and creation joined around the same time. Some were fabric designers, the others were trend researchers who go to other countries to research the collections and go public. There are some pattern makers like me and clothing designers. In that situation, I learned a lot from those who knew how to run such an enterprise.  It was an excellent opportunity for me. I didn’t know about quality control departments at all because I did not belong to one. I first learned that there is a particular department to handle defective pieces. There is another department to grade the size; called a grader which is different from pattern makers. Because I was working for a corporation, I was able to examine the whole system in detail. We have four full seasons here in Japan, there are exhibitions each season; spring, summer, fall and winter.  I needed to see the flow; how salespeople go to sell clothing, so I had to stay at least a year.

– You had a clear purpose.

Tamaki

I hated an aspect of the company; despite the enactment the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, I learned there was no equal opportunity for woman and men in the real world.  Unexpectedly pattern makers’ positions were low even though its role in creation is essential. Sales individuals and designers’ positions were considered more important. I’d like our world to be equal… I don’t like the people who dominate.  Each worker has each role so essential to a company… I hated the idea that someone is in a high position or low position. Everybody complained, but that’s how it was. I didn’t want to be an insensitive person like most of the adults. So I wanted to have my company and it a vision that is clear and encompassing. It was a necessary period in understanding for me.  But that’s the only company where I worked so I might have had a different experience if I went to a different company. From what I could see from the company I belonged to and the information I got from the people around me, society is callous and not much else. That’s what I came to understand. I wanted to make a company which is full of excitement and energy. I didn’t have a sound image of the establishment of my company back then, but I wanted to work to be unlike them. I started from an ‘anti-image’.  That’s why, when we started our brand, it was an important point to be how I am, not what kind of clothes we make. As “玉木新雌 (tamaki niime)” – a new woman who is excited and energetic, I hoped our brand to be the career which is full of enjoyment, self-esteem and that’s how I would establish myself. That’s how I created ‘tamaki niime/玉木新雌’ as our brand.

It is Tamaki’s ideal environment of creation since she launched ‘tamaki niime’ in 2004. At the same time, creating an organisation where everyone functions as a team in a fair and equal environment regardless of the job they handle.  Now that it is going to be widely deployed at Shop & Lab.

Tamaki

We’ve just started hiring new graduates this year. We originally started as a family business and gradually increased by adding other staff. We became an organisation and finally, we recruited new people to the school.  I had an experience that I felt disgusted with when I first graduated from school and entered the world of work. So, I think it is ok that if the worker chooses our company after they experience the rough world or they become anti and then select our company; but the people who can survive in that kind of society have no need to come to our company.

– Directly…?

Tamaki

If the students are more pure and have passion for creation, they suffer worse in the gap between their dream and the reality that they come to face in today’s society.  Actually, I did. I had no choice but to compromise in order to survive. But it is not right to live in a fake reality if you lie to yourself. Lying to yourself is not good for us as human beings.  It is most essential to be lively and create. Since that’s the most important thing, I wish they come to us in the condition of non-calculative attitude and brush up the purity specialise more and more. So we decided to choose staff that are newly graduated.

– Tamaki’s experience of company work is learning a lot about society.  Is it kind of a “research” right? It was a preparation period to get excited to do your job and to start up the ideal brand, isn’t it?  What was Sakai like at that time?

Tamaki

You were having your original research and observing your surroundings as usual?

Sakai

At that time, I was working as a part-timer.  I observed the people around me; what kind of person is in a specific position, how the job is operated in a balance and leading the results.  I don’t know how to say… but my mind works in that manner. I didn’t decide to do it but my sense of things.

Tamaki

Like scanning. (laugh)

Sakai

When I figure out the work to a certain extent, I usually quit in about three or four months, because I could figure out. For example, if someone is ahead of me in my workplace, I decided to work hard to overtake that person. In the meantime, I also grasp the circumstances, but once I’m ahead of him or her, I am no longer interested and just move on to the next thing.

– I feel you have a sign of genius.

Sakai

When I was about to launch a brand with Tamaki, my relatives worried and talked about being ‘a responsible member of society’ because I only had experiences of a part-time job thus far.  ‘What is a responsible member of society?’ That was the question. I was introduced to a job trial at an employment information centre. It was a twine maker company, and I asked a boss at the interview if I could be the head of a company.  The answer was ‘Yes.’ So I set a goal for myself. I set myself a span of one month and decided not to talk to other workers unless I have to and devote myself to my job with whole-hearted spirit. It was to be ahead of my co-workers by production efficiency.  After half a month, I was assigned more jobs and asked to be a full-time employee. I thought it was way too easy to be a responsible member of society. Isn’t it too easy to delegate jobs to someone? So I decided to quit because I understood the structure of ‘the responsible member of society’.  The boss told me to come back if I wanted to. That is the responsibility in the society, isn’t it? I completed the goal. That’s it.

– In such circumstances, Tamaki and Sakai could judge society individually, and it came to go with the brand name ‘tamaki niime/玉木新雌’.  Would you tell the story behind it?

Sakai

I was thinking about naming and logos as a new female image with my colleagues at that time who are very maniac-savvy about street culture and fashion.

– Does that mean that you responded to Tamaki’s new idea of ​​a female image, from opposition to society, starting with an objection and placing the ideal as a brand?

Sakai

Yes, I deeply pondered about it, as there was no such thing.  It was more like an image that was based on Tamaki’s idea.

Tamaki

We are not thinking about concepts together; the core is what I want to do.  I simply ask Sakai what the best logo that follows what my idea is. Then he responds, and I agree… just like catch.

– Was it a smooth decision to name “玉木新雌 (tamaki niime)”, and the logo, or was there trial and error?

Sakai

I think most of the time, I’m the one who thinks and shows it to Tamaki to see if she likes it or not.  I thought up the current logo after deciding the shawl.

Tamaki

I’m the one who decided “新雌 (niime)”. I really wanted to use “新しい(new)”. Although “雄 (male)” is commonly used for male names, names with “雌 (female)” are not found on the net.  So that was not difficult to decide.

Sakai

Yeah, smoothly.

Tamaki

The character of ‘me’ in niime was a difficult decision; whether “雌 (me)” or “芽 (me) “.  “芽 (me) ” means ‘bud’. But it was too cute for us. Because we have an anti-message against society (laugh).  Why “雌 (female)”, you know? It gets attention, doesn’t it? (for us who advocate anti-society in society) (laugh).  Where does a female want to think about what women say?

– There is also a refined atmosphere with “新雌 (niime)”.

Tamaki

芽 (bud) “was a too safe choice, I guess. When it comes to either-or, I’d rather choose the distinct one.  Once we choose the name, I believed that something would start anyway. Even when we said we would start the brand, we didn’t have specific works.  There was no market. We had nothing. But we knew we could do something. “

–      This is how the brand was born in 2004, having confidence in the unknown future; a new ideal era against an old-fashioned society. Since then ‘tamaki niime/玉木新雌’ has been growing with persuading the nonstop creation and unquestioned conviction.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.