Recently I was asked to write a short text answering following questions.
Why is this change important, what is the goal?
Who do you need for that?
What does success mean to you in this industry?
It is impossible to give short answers to these questions so I made below note to myself as base of my plans.
SUCCESS is nowadays synonymous to 'financial achievement' but for me success has always been having positive impact on others' lives on intellectual andor emotional levels based on my own values, even if it is a small one (My parents gave me a name 祐喜子which means 'Helping others be happy' and I am trying my best to live up to it) .This applies to my professional life in fashion industry. By creating my products using my own hands one by one to achieve high standard aesthetic and comfort, I wanted to communicate my commitment to beauty of couture and life-long relationship between us and our personal belongings. During the lock-down period, as we reflect on issues as sustainability in terms of human resources as well as natural resources, I tried to reach out to wider audience not necessarily to promote my business but to find more like-minded people as well as those who seemed to have different opinions to continue dialogues because I strongly believe that there must be a fundamental CHANGE in the way we treat our environment as well as other human beings and in order to achieve the change, 'NORMAL PEOPLE' LIKE MYSELF who have long felt that they have no power nor ability to make changes must realize that they do have power of intelligence and conscience if not power of money or influence to be a part of the movement and the change. For example, we must empower ourselves with firm belief that we are all uniquely beautiful and our personal styles and emotional attachment to our personal belongings are way more important than seasonal trends which are scheduled for seasonal sales. Also, we cannot be happy to score dirt cheap trendy clothes when there are so many unhappy people producing those garments. No race must be treated merely as a branding tool but must be treated with respect and dignity. I believe that the most fundamental change always come from mass movement of many ordinary people and as one of them, I want to continue to step out of my comfort zone and stand for my values. Also more importantly, I want to contribute to create safe and open environment so everyone can express his/her honest opinion without fear of being 'cancelled' and stay within the movement. This is how I want to contribute to the change, which ultimately leads to success by my own definition.
