"Shopping Japan With Four Pins" is an ongoing series in which Amardeep Singh takes us on a tour of the country's best shops. See them all here.
Part VII: Vendor, Nakameguro
Four Pins has talked a lot about nonnative before, and for good reason—nonnative makes some really cool things. In case you were doubting that at all and thought the Internet was just showing you the best of the best of the brand, I went to the Vendor shop in Nakameguro to check it all out for myself. I've been a fan of nonnative for a while now, largely because of the designers' ability to make clothing that's in the perfect sweet spot between strange clothing and not so strange clothing. Quirky clothing like nonnative's is the kind of stuff I can fully stock my closet with and not feel strange about at the same time. It's kind of weird, but not fully weird enough to be /weird/. That's what I thought before I entered the shop, and now having seen a lot more of it in person, that's exactly how I feel afterwards. The shop is packed with clothing that's just a little off, like nonnative x New Balance shoes sitting on funky Vibram soles, a band collar button up shirt with a zipper in place of buttons and oddly-shaped bucket hats, amongst many other things.
Vendor is owned by a company called TNP CO., LTD. and in addition to producing the nonnative line, they also act as a distributor of sorts within Japan for other brands that they like, which are also carried at Vendor. These brands vary in style and are hand selected by the team to sit alongside their in-house clothing and accessories without conflict, resulting in a very well-rounded store. One of these distributed brands, and a brand well-represented in the Nakameguro Vendor shop, is UK-based Folk (another Four Pins favorite), a brand that I feel kind of acts as the middleground between the slightly weird, strangely designed nonnative (and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible) and boring, mass-market designs packaged and presented to the public in big-box chain stores as "basics."
A large shop for the neighborhood, filled with natural light, a ton of interesting clothing and accessories, and a surprisingly well-curated music wall, Vendor is definitely worth a visit while in Nakameguro. And, shockingly enough if you've been following along with the rest of this series, almost everything at Vendor is available for international customers on an easy to use English webshop. Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are.
Vendor
1-23-14 Saito Building 1F
Meguro-ku, Tokyo Aobadai 153-0042
+81-03-6452-3072
Amardeep Singh is a writer and photographer living in New York. You can see more of his work here and follow him on Twitter here.
