Yutaka Moriguchi is a Japanese bespoke shoemaker who gained a lot of loyal customers and built his own balanced, understated style. After running his atelier for more than 10 years, he is a master and makes fantastic shoes skillfully.
It is a great honour to have this interview with hm.
Please briefly introduce yourself.
My name is Yutaka Moriguchi (森口 豊). I was born in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and now live in Tokyo.
My hobby is making things. I’m currently attending a school for making bags.
When did you fall in love with dress shoes?
I became interested in leather shoes when I was 20 years old.
I was fascinated by the way leather ages. For example, the color changes and deepens. As you wear them, wrinkles appear, giving the shoes a three-dimensional look.
I like the feeling of applying cream and other products to make them my own unique shoes. They’re like a partner.
How did you learn this craft? Who are your teachers?
My master is Hiro Yanagimachi.
Yanagimachi was a very strict person when it came to his work. We spent long hours repeating basic tasks over and over again.
It was a job where we didn’t compromise. We worked while facing ourselves. It felt like I was learning about life through shoemaking.
When studying shoemaking, Yanagimachi didn’t just place importance on rules and numbers, but also on the feeling and impression he got when looking at a shoe.
It sharpened my powers of observation.
When did you feel you are ready for your own atelier?
I wanted to work at Yanagimachi’s store. However, I wanted to make shoes using my favorite materials and colors, so I decided to go independent. I wanted to test my potential.
So I opened my own studio about 10 years ago.
how do you describe the style of your shoes/lasts?
My shoes are based on British shoes, but I give them a contemporary, modern style.
I often work with people in fashion industry and also tailors, and I get my inspiration from them.
Sometimes I make shoes to match the style of clothes I want to wear, such as French style, Ivy League, Classico Italiano, or American casual.
I also get inspiration from various everyday situations. For example, I get inspired by the shoes people are wearing when I see them walking down the street or on the train.
What is your favorite model and leather?
My favorite design is U-tip. U-tips go well with both suits and casual clothing. They don’t feel stuffy, but rather give off a soft impression.
My favorite leather is embossed leather.
Embossed leather has a striking appearance, and it adds a fashionable touch. I also like the practicality of scratches not being noticeable, and scratches add to the character.
My favorite shoes are elegant, yet practical and realistic.
What is most important to a pair of bespoke shoes?
It’s important for custom-made shoes to fit the shape of your feet. However, since appearance is also important, balance is key.
I also think it’s important to talk with the customer and make the shoes exactly as they imagined.
How do you attract your customers? and do you host trunk shows?
We attract a lot of customers through referrals. We hold trunk shows twice a year in Kobe.
What is your plan for next few years?
My goal for the future is to have more customers wearing my shoes, to do that, I want to hire more employees and improve my production system.
I want to introduce new machinery. This doesn’t mean we’re moving completely to machine-made shoes. We will never give up bespoke shoes. We do need to change with the times. We want to introduce the latest machinery to do efficient, beautiful work and keep prices down so that many people can wear our shoes. For example, sewing machines and grinders to grind the soles. We will continue to do things by hand that can only be done by hand.
