The Tamesis
Over the past decade, 39-year-old Kiichiro Asakawa has built a serious fashion business by founding the independent, understated and elegant brand Ssstein. The brand, which is available in more than 100 retailers globally, including Selfridges, Mr Porter and Net-a-Porter, has seen its annual revenue nearly double over the past five years to ¥1 billion ($6 million), starting in spring/summer 2026.
Known for its flowing silhouettes and understated, almost austere aesthetic, Ssstein has quickly become a favorite among menswear aficionados, along with Japanese brands like Auralee and A.Presse.
After the past two seasons of shows in Paris didn’t go as planned (Asakawa said they added about 250 million yen, or $1.8 million to annual sales), this week the brand took to the official men’s calendar to showcase its fall/winter 2026 collection in a bid to further expand its international presence.
A former buyer, Asakawa founded his own store, Carol, in Tokyo’s Shibuya district in 2016, which he still manages. I met the designer in Carroll, two weeks before his menswear debut at Paris Fashion Week. He is soft-spoken, 185 centimeters tall and has an impressive mane of curly hair. He always wears an oversized black Ssstein blazer. As we looked around, Asakawa explained that it was in this store that he borrowed his aunt’s sewing machine and began remaking and selling jeans under the name Stein.
“I sold about 300 pairs of recycled denim to customers and the response was really good,” he said. “I felt a new excitement that I had never experienced before, and this feeling made me want to make my own clothes.” Asakawa released Stein’s first official collection in autumn and winter 2017, held showrooms starting in spring and summer 2018, and changed its name to Ssstein in 2024, adding three “S” to avoid trademark issues in the global market.
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Asakawa is a self-taught designer who learned his design skills while working at Naichichi, a now-defunct store in Harajuku that sold repurposed antiques. He was always attracted to the debris around him. “I’m taking things apart and making them again,” he said. “Even as an amateur, there were things I could understand, so I learned from that.”
