In our fast-paced contemporary society, it is easy to become an insensible consumer.
Hyper fast, hyper mass consumption strategies, encourage extremely short-term decision making and impulse buying. Production cycles constantly accelerate, and so we find ourselves seeking incessant innovation and giving in to constant consumption.

As a result of this high speed, high volume production model, thousands, if not millions, of artisans have been displaced across the world. And some of the most beautiful manual traditions and craftsmanship that embody centuries of cultural heritage have been lost.
Have we lost the capacity to make discerning choices, to value the beauty of slow and lovingly executed manual craftsmanship, to treasure a special item over time?

At M. Hiramatsu, we want to encourage careful and intelligent, sustainable choices when it comes to clothing. We want to bring to the fore quality workmanship and ensure that we appreciate its significance. We want to protect the heritage of manual traditions and recognise the artisans behind them.
And we want to bring all these values into our everyday wear.

That’s when the idea of detachable art frame came to life.

M. Hiramatsu develops one-of-a-kind hand embroidered art frame that can be attached to our T-shirts and hoodies. Each frame has different motif and different design, and has been developed in direct and close collaboration with master craftsmen in India, taking into consideration the embroidery styles in which they excel. Our aim is to highlight and, hopefully, lead our customers to appreciate the special artistic value of manual traditions. The detachable nature of the frame allows our customers to customize according to their style or taste. The frames can be collected, and so the ways in which one can mix and match expands, thus allowing us to enjoy the garments and rediscover their beauty over time as they can be worn in many different ways. This model enables us to bring both sustainable crafts and sustainable fashion at the same time—our “SHISHU” clothing aim to introduce a new way of fashion.

“How to enjoy SHISHU”

For our first series of frames, we chose India because it is the birthplace of a myriad of handwoven and handcrafted textile traditions. The hand-embroidery industry in India is one of the largest worldwide, with an incredible variety of styles. And, although many of these traditions still survive, they are increasingly starting to disappear as craftsmen cannot compete with automated mills and machine-made embroideries.
We want to help preserve the astonishing skills of manual traditions from all over the world and enjoy them in a modern manner, everyday.

Tradition and contemporary, all in one.

M. Hiramatsu is a small studio that produces small quantities of a select line of garments using high quality Japanese and Indian textiles. The garments are produced both in Japan and India for a discerning customer, and we insist on working directly with master craftsmen and weavers to ensure fair trade practices. Through our products, we aim to promote conscious and sustainable consumption. We want to encourage slow fashion without ever losing the excitement and satisfaction that beautifully crafted, high quality garments provide.

Creative director Marina Hiramatsu graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014, and soon after she started working at Hand & Lock, a luxury embroidery atelier in London. Her interests for hand crafts were always evident, however her passion grew when she moved to India in 2016 to become knitwear designer for luxury womenswear brand VARANA. During her 2 years’ stay, she discovered the vast textile heritage available in India and the large variety of beautifully executed manual crafts, especially embroidery. She also met the artisans behind these beautiful crafts, learned their histories, and the impact that these traditions have in society and culture. Then she began to think of a sustainable manner to introduce their work to Japan and, eventually, to a worldwide audience. With this in mind, she launched M.Hiramatsu in 2019.