Buttoned Down for Life
Kamakura: the Maker's Shirt flagship store does not disappoint
Hell in a handbasket. Such is our sartorial state today. I live in Honolulu, arguably the greatest place on earth, but why don't we dress like it's the greatest place on earth? To see what people wear here when they have a choice, you'd think that everyone's job was yard work, and even people who do yard work professionally are often better dressed. Unfortunately, we're not alone. Across America, we've traded in Brooks Brothers suits for track suits. Even Brooks Brothers has thrown in the towel and started making track suits. For the office. I kid you not. It's heartbreaking.
Brooks Brothers invented the quintessential shirt, the Oxford Cloth Button Down (OCBD), 125 years ago. The texture of the cloth is coarser than that of a dress shirt, making it a more casual choice, and yet it's a natural match for a bowtie and a navy blazer. You can never be underdressed in an OCBD (unless you're at a black-tie affair), and it used to be said that you could never be overdressed in one, either, until everyone started wearing shirts without collars (what used to be gym attire is now dinner attire). I've been wearing OCBDs since early childhood (thanks, Mom, for having the good taste to put me in one when it counted!) and have come to regard it over my lifetime as the best shirt ever made.
I purchased my first Brooks Brothers OCBD in college with my work study earnings. It was lovely and durable with alternating blue and gray university stripes, and it served me valiantly for twenty years until it mysteriously disappeared during a household "purge." I still think about it often and have searched in vain for a replacement.
A little over five years ago, word got out that Brooks Brothers was going to stop making OCBDs in the U.S. and start making them in China. I went on a buying spree, purchasing all the basic colors in solid and university stripes. I thought it was the end, and in a way, it was: Brooks Brothers started chopping the tails off their OCBDs (why?). While they have brought back a line of American-made OCBDs, they retail at around $200. I snagged mine at the right time.
During the pandemic, I learned of a shirtmaker in Japan who made an OCBD to rival the classic Brooks Brothers model, and I paid attention. Maker's Shirt Kamakura was established in 1993 and had been gaining a great reputation outside Japan for the quality of their shirts. They even had a New York branch for a time. When I traveled to Osaka in 2023, my first Japan trip since I was in high school, I visited the Umeda Maker's Shirt store and bought every shirt in the store in my size. All four of them. Though I share genetic makeup with the Japanese, I do not share their compact size.
I was instantly sold. Not only did the quality match what I used to be accustomed to with Brooks Brothers, but the fit on me was much better. Every time I've returned to Japan since, I have always stopped at the local Maker's Shirt store and have purchased all the shirts in my size in stock (usually that means one, two if I'm lucky).
Last month, I was in Tokyo for a conference and various university readings of my work, so I took advantage of Tokyo's proximity to Kamakura and made a pilgrimage to Maker's Shirt Kamakura's flagship store.
On a rare day during the Tokyo tour when I did not have a conference, reading, or meetings with area professors over coffee, lunch, drinks, or dinner, I made an all-day trip from Tokyo to Kamakura with Jayson Chun, The Professor, and Pat Patterson (Pat is also a professor, but to avoid confusion, I will simply refer to him as "Pat" as I have done in previous posts). We disembarked from our JR train onto a platform engulfed in stifling heat and humidity.
From the station, it was a short walk to Komachidori, a shopping street lined with charming little shops and cafes. One made the claim to serve the "Number 1 Apple Pie in the World." What the hell. How can you not try it? And wouldn't you know—I have to say it may be a true claim. For those of you who doubt, get over to Kamakura Mille Mele in the Komachidori and have one yourself.
We stopped near the end of Komachidori to duck into a dessert café to avail ourselves of the air conditioning and had a matcha parfait before braving the heat for a couple of blocks to get to Hachimangu Shrine. One of the enduring institutions of Kamakura, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in its location dates to 1191 CE when it was moved there by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first Kamakura shogun. It is a Shinto shrine with Buddhist architecture, because it was both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple until the order separating Shinto and Buddhism in the Meiji Era converted it to solely a Shinto shrine. Pat acted as our guide there, having been to the shrine several times.
I threw my coins and bowed and clapped and offered a prayer to the kami for a fortuitous and productive day, which meant, among other things, finding a shirt in my size at the Maker's Shirt Kamakura flagship store.
Though the walk from the shrine to Maker's Shirt was short, it was like moving through a steam bath in slow motion. This meant that I was nice and damp by the time we reached the store. The flagship store of Maker's Shirt Kamakura is in the Bow Bells House, a charming edifice in turn-of-the-last-century style architecture. Stepping into the space gave me the same thrill I had when I set foot in 346 Madison Avenue, the Brooks Brothers flagship store in midtown Manhattan, for the first time as a sophomore at NYU. It was the smell of new cotton and air conditioning.
We were greeted by the staff with bows and an invitation to peruse the merchandise. I made a beeline for the Vintage Ivy table, with the latest shirts in that line created for them by British artist and art director Graham Marsh. I own a handful of Kamakura's Vintage Ivy shirts, including the "Miles Davis Green" shirt inspired by the Milestones album cover photograph of Davis.
The new offerings on the table included a frosty pink OCBD in a shade slightly paler than the Brooks Brothers classic in my closet and a "regimental stripe" broadcloth shirt that practically screamed Buy me! Luckily, the kami came through, and there were shirts right on the table in both models in my size. The staff had me try the regimental stripe shirt and gave me a disposable moist towel to wipe myself off before putting it on. I'm sorry to say it didn't really help, but it was my intention to walk out with the shirt anyway. Again, prayers answered. It fit.
The Professor picked out a linen shirt for himself, and Pat pointed out a lavender tie with small polka dots which paired perfectly with the pink OCBD. I grabbed it along with a kelly green and white rep striped tie that was unique and eye-catching. I could have spent all afternoon in sartorial heaven, but if I stayed any longer, I would have left with rep stripes and polka dots in every color imaginable.
Two shirts, two ties. And they threw in a Graham Marsh postcard featuring his "jazz" blue cat in the regimental stripe shirt. All from the flagship store. Mission accomplished.
We took a cab from Maker's Shirt to the Daibutsu. We admired the 45-foot-tall 13th-century statue amid not too many foreign tourists. The awe-inspiring view of the Great Buddha made me reflect on my worldly attachments, like OCBDs.
I peeked at the shirts and ties wrapped in tissue paper in the shopping bag and concluded that I'm not ready for the Pure Land just yet.
Always a pleasure to Scott Kikkawa's work.
Never tried one of their shirts. I will have to give it a try. I usually get some MUJI and UNIQLO linen shirts when in Japan. Their linen jackets also are wonderful. Perfect for Japanese or Makiki summers.