Etsuzo Shitara

Etsuzo Shitara established Shinko Shiki Co. (later Shinko Inc.) in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward in 1953 as a cardboard packaging company. After the 1973 oil crisis squeezed the packaging business, an introduction to Americana obsessive Osamu Shigematsu reframed his trajectory: in February 1976 Shitara opened the first Beams in Harajuku, a 20-square-metre shop modelled on a UCLA dorm room and stocked with authentic American goods. The single store grew into a national multi-brand retail empire and in-house labels including Beams Plus, the workwear-leaning menswear line. Shitara is widely credited as a foundational figure in Japan's import-driven fashion culture; his son Yō Shitara now leads the company.