OUR STORY
HIMO & KIMO began with a jacket,
not a business plan.
Twelve years ago, outside a market near the sumo wrestling stadium in Tokyo, I bought my first haori. It was silk, hand-stitched, covered in a pattern I didn't yet know the meaning of. I wore it home on the plane. And so it began.
My husband Aki is Japanese, and this is our labour of love. We go back every year — to the same markets, the same vendors, the same quiet corners of Tokyo and Nagano, where Aki's family is from.
Over twelve years, a jacket became a collection. A collection became a fascination. A fascination became HIMO & KIMO.
What I have learned along the way is that a haori is two things at once. It is a garment steeped in meaning — and it is also just a brilliant jacket
Part of what we do is share what we know. The meaning behind the pattern on your haori. The technique used to dye it. The era it came from. We have spent years learning this — and we genuinely love passing it on. Because a garment with a story is a completely different thing to a garment without one.
Lynsey & Aki
