Visvim to stage runway show at Pitti Uomo

Despite his elusive nature, Nakamura thought it was time the rest of the world finally got to really experience his designs. During Pitti Uomo, the 45-year-old businessman and designer will be staging the brand's first ever runway show. The collection will include both his men's and women's spring/summer 2017 lines.

Hiromi Nakamura, the chief executive officer and creative director of Visvim, is a bit of a fashion oddity. In the age of fashion, technology, and the digital world becoming so intertwined, he doesn't own a TV, didn't start doing e-commerce until 2009, and he also hates gadgets with touch screens. Visvim's only social media activity is a Facebook account. Their Instagram presence is run by a fan, and not an official social media person.

Despite their lack of a digital push, Visvim is still an impressive business. The brand's total sales are about 100 million dollars. In addition to the Visvim line, the company also has F.I.L. Indigo Camping Trailer, an offshoot that incubates small projects like like a 1500 dollar down shirt jacket stitched together from American bandanas. The company has 60 employees, and seven free standing stores, along with five shop-in-shops in Japan, with 135 wholesale doors worldwide including Bergdorf Goodman and Mr. Porter.

Visvim staging first runway show at Pitti Uomo

In the wake of a struggling Asian market, the company closed several stores in Hong Kong and Singapore, and they are now considering new retail stores in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Europe.

“It’s still really preliminary,” said Richard Weston, Visvim’s regional managing director, to WWD. “It depends on the character of the actual space. We don’t feel the need to be in a particular area.”

While the luxury market isn't particularly promising right now, Visvim would have an advantage as a brand that already has a certain level of U.S. presence thanks to being worn by celebrities like Kanye West. Expanding into markets like Los Angeles and San Francisco where they don't have a large retail presence could also be promising for growth.

photo via visvim.com