Hi! I’m Jason and welcome to my YouTube channel, Company Insight. In this video, I’m
going to talk about the story behind the brand Comme des Garcons and how Comme des Garcons
rose to success.
Today, we’ll delve into the world of fashion with the brand Comme des Garcons, which many
people recognize by their signature heart shaped logo with two eyes. A lot has been
said these days about finding an identity and path to success in the fashion industry.
Look at top fashion TV shows like Project Runway or Next in Fashion. Because of the
variance and how quickly the fashion industry changes, designers cannot rely on a set basic
formula for success like other careers or fields where there’s a systematic step-by-step
1, 2, 3, 4 to follow. Fashion designers, like entrepreneurs, have to go above and beyond
to change the DNA of existing trends to create their own style and brand. Otherwise, they
would just end up being considered old-fashioned and lowly non-respectable copycats. Rei Kawakubo,
the founder of Comme des Garcons, is considered that 'heroine' or the Elon Musk in the fashion
industry. She understands these principles in creating multi-dimensional works that drive
fashion forward seamlessly connecting art, clothing, fashion, and business. Today, we’ll
go over the background and history of Comme des Garcons, starting with the founder, and
look at some of the key strategies that lead to the success of this remarkable brand. Whether
you’re in fashion or not, you’ll be able to take away the key learnings and apply them
to your life.
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continue on with the Rise of Comme des Garcons video.
How Comme des Garçons started
We are talking today about the brand founded by a talented and extraordinary woman, with
her avant-garde views on fashion. This is an unusual Japanese brand, "Comme des Garçons,"
famous for its conceptual and sometimes unpredictable clothing collections. Oftentimes, Comme des
Garcons is known as CDG for short.
It’s fascinating that Rei Kawakubo (and this is the name of the founder of the brand)
had no design education, but she had an innate desire for beauty, a sense of style, a unique
outlook on things, and healthy ambitions. After graduating from the Faculty of Fine
Arts, Rei got a job in the advertising department of the textile company "Ashai Kasei" and in
parallel worked as a stylist in her free time. With her non-standard outlook, Rei always
found it difficult to find clothes that she liked and through which she could express
herself. Having received the necessary knowledge about fabrics, their properties, and the technological
features of production processes at her job, the Japanese woman understood that she wanted
to design and create clothes herself. And this is how the “Comme des Garçons” brand
started back in 1973.
What is Comme des Garçons?
The name of the brand, which in translation from French means, “like a boy,” was chosen
perhaps because most of the things of “Comme des Garçons” were sewn in the “unisex”
style, or maybe simply because Rei really liked the song by French artist Françoise
Hard under the name “Tous les garcons et les filles" (which translates to "all boys
and girls"). Lets now go over a few of the strategies that lead to this brands huge success.
Success Strategy #1 – Create a Cult Following
The first thing Comme des Garcons had going for it was it had a strong dedicated fanbase.
Cult branding is about creating a brand that people are committed to and identify with.
These brands often attract big fans and Rei created this with CDG by creating a lifestyle
with a brand identity. The first collections of quirky and unusual clothes for women, characterized
by complete deconstructivism, was immediately fallen in love with by Japanese fashionistas.
These were not habitually pretentious feminine things, but, on the contrary, emphatically
asexual, shapeless, strange, defying explanation.
Rei's designs are based on the belief that women don't have to wear fitted clothes and
high heels and that the beauty of women is beyond the limitations of the body. Japanese
women were impressed by such a bold and non-standard outlook on things, so by the end of the 1970s,
all of Japan already knew about Comme des Garcons. At the same time, a line of clothing
for men called "Homme" was launched.
Another distinctive feature of the Comme des Garçons clothing is its asymmetric design,
such as short-length, left-right, and front-back asymmetry. Even though the dress is distorted
and deformed, it still is actually wearable There are several notable collections such
as 1982's 'Holes' show featuring a cardigan with a moth-like effect and cut holes, 1997
with the 'Body Meets Dress' collection. “Dress Meets Body', known as 'Lumps and Bumps, featured
flexible dresses in a structured, unconventional figure. 2005 with 'Broken Bride', reflecting
the unhappy bride's wedding dress. And 2012, showing '2 Dimensions' that flattened the
dress and looked like it was made of construction paper.
Rei’s approach also showed in the approach to the design of their first boutique shop,
which was located in Tokyo's Minami-Aoyama district, was also non-standard. For example,
there was a complete absence of mannequins in the shop, window, and mirrors. As Rei said
herself, “Women should buy clothes because of how they felt in them, and not because
of how they look in it."
All of this caught on, especially in the 1980’s as women in America were tired of the traditional
office attire. CDG thus had rapid success in Japan followed by the rest of the world.
Today, there are more than 150 sales points and more than 80 permanent employees in the
Company. The cult following of the brand's fans are not just buying clothes, but are
also creating a community of Comme des Garçons lovers that will often have activities to
do together. This community is still growing strong up till today. Many new brands that
are currently trending are following such a similar pattern, such as Off-White. By having
a cult following, Rei was able to elevate Comme des Garcons from not just a brand but
also a lifestyle.
Success Strategy #2 – Full Ownership of the Business
The best way to own a company is to own it fully. You started it, you own it, and you
run it. You don't have to decide anything by majority rules. Rei Kawakubo understood
this important piece of business advice that most entrepreneurs don’t realize until it’s
too late when they own too little or end up working for their investors rather than for
themselves. Unlike most fashion companies that bring in outside investors, Rei owns
100% of the company and her husband is the CEO. This is massively different from other
companies like Kors, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Coach, for example that are all publicly
traded. Or holding companies like Kering who own Gucci, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen,
Yves Saint Laurent and many more brands. In all these instances, decisions are made by
management and investors, no longer by the original fashion designers. Rei Kawakubo is
fiercely proud that Comme des Garcons is independent and because of that she can choose to run
the business how she wants to without being forced to listen to others against her will.
Having full ownership and direction of the business, together with her husband, has been
a key to the success for CDG.
Success Strategy #3: Brand Extensions of Comme des Garcons
Rei and her husband are complementary business partners like Yin and Yang. Finally, with
the nurturing of the Comme des Garçons empire, Rei said she also viewed herself less of a
businesswoman and more of an artist. With that said, her husband, Adrian Joffe, compliments
her and acts as the spokesperson for the brand and has been responsible for slightly softening
her image. Together, they have excelled in the strategy of brand extensions, using a
company’s already established brand to help launch its newest products.
As Eric Wilson, Fashion News Director at Instyle Magazine summarized well, “One thing that
differentiates Rei’s success is that she is successful. So many stories of creative
geniuses ended much more tragically because they weren’t able to balance their vision
with their need to show up for work every day. But Comme des Garçons represents imagination
in fashion and what creativity can be. It’s a different approach.”
Comme Des Garcons Brand Extensions
One of the key areas where Rei has really been able to succeed is brand extensions under
the Comme des Garcons umbrella brand. There is the men’s label started in 1978, Comme
des Garçons Homme, the knitwear extension called Tricot Comme des Garçons launched
in 1981, followed by Comme des Garçons SHIRT in 1988 with more formal wear and Comme des
Garçons Comme des Garçons offering more affordable wear in 1993.
The biggest brand extension success was Comme des Garcons Play, which launched in 2002 with
the signature heart shaped logo with two eyes and is still en vogue popular to this very
day in 2021. The Play extension has been able to attribute its success to its price point
of entry-level luxury at about $130 for a polo shirt for example, along with selective
distribution to avoid over exposure. In addition, these brand extensions have allowed new designers
to come in to establish sub-brands as well. Junya Watanabe started Junya Watanabe Comme
des Garçons Man and Kei Ninomiya with Comme des Garçons Noir for example.
Comme des Garcons Products Extensions
Since 1994, the CDG brand began to produce its own perfume, naturally distinguished by
a complex and unusual composition of aromas. In the perfumery direction, there are six
different lines, the most unusual of which is, perhaps, the synthetic series of scents
(when you can smell like dry cleaning). Among other things, the brand has a furniture line,
a jewelry line, a lingerie line, a line of bags, accessories, swimwear, and the concept
magazine Six.
Comme des Garcons Collaborations
In addition to that, as Rei Kawakubo is herself a versatile personality and experimenter,
Comme des Garçons constantly collaborates on various projects with various representatives
of the creative profession (designers, choreographers, florists) and other brands. During its work,
the brand has collaborated with Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Fred Perry, H&M, Supreme, Speedo,
Nike, Coca-Cola, Converse and many other companies.
With the all the sub-brands, product extensions and collaborations, business has grown dramatically.
In 1980, yearly revenues were $30 million. This then increased to $130 million by 1999
all the way to $320 million in 2019. That’s simply incredible!
And to top it off, Rei still participates in the development of each collection, controls
the company's financial policy and marketing, and also develops the concept of each store
herself. It’s part of the culture coming from the founder herself, to stay authentic
to the core of the brand.
Conclusion
And that brings us to today. Despite the controversial approach to fashion, the Comme des Garçons
brand is recognized as one of the most significant and influential in the world. Everything about
it is simple amazing: the approach to clothing, building a cult following, staying independent
and extending its brand all over the place. The creator of the brand has already won many
prestigious awards and, of course, is not going to stop there. And we just have to wait
in anticipation – what Comme des Garcons will come up and surprise everyone with next
time.
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really help out a lot. Be sure to check out some of my other videos, like the Rise
and Fall of New York and the Rise and Fall of True Religion. Thank you again for watching
and stay tuned for another episode of Company Insight next week.