Comme Des Garcons

Comme des Garcons Company Review and History


Translated from French into English: “like boys”
Headquarters: Tokyo Japan

The owner and founder of Comme des Garcons is Rei Kawakubo. This company, a private one, opened for business in the fashion industry in 1969. Since the opening of the company, there are now more than 12 boutiques and at least 200 merchants worldwide. One location considered high fashion in Tokyo (Aoyama) has flagship depots and one called “Place Vendome in Paris”, which is highly famous for its fashion line too. The business brings in annual revenue of approximately $150,000,000 (gross revenue). As of 2007, the business employed around 200 individuals.

Brief History of Commes des Garcons

Although Rei Kawakubo founded and opened the business in 1969, the company was not officially established until a few years later, in 1973. In Japan, the business became triumphant in the fashion industry in the mid-70s and added to their product line, for men, in 1978. In 1981, there was a show in the Paris location, which was a first appearance of Comme des Garcons and its leading fashion in “distressed” and “black” materials used in the clothing line. During the 1980s, this line of apparel frequently had a shattered appearance to it.

Once the debut in Paris completed, the company displayed pictures at some famous fashion locations in Paris. The pictures were the work of Peter Lindbergh. About 20 years later, another debut occurred in Tokyo. The debut consisted of marketing and illustrative sketches.

Comme des Garcons and its Fashion Line

The company uses a studio in Tokyo (Aoyama), where the fashion line is planned, but the rest of the products are finished in France, Japan, Turkey and Spain. The name of the studio where the company finishes making the clothing is the Comme des Garcons.

During the life of this company, they have created a few different collections. One collection earned the name “lumps and bumps” set. This apparel consisted of materials in vastness and little orbs on the articles of clothing, which looked like they had “lumps and bumps” on them. That was in 1997. This line of clothing created an association between the owner of the company and a choreographer from New York, Merce Cunningham, titled the “Scenario” assortment. This apparel was part of the spring and summer collected works.

Nine years later, in 2006, a new idea arose, which was “yssup”. The idea represented clothing and the various ways we introduce ourselves to the “sinep”. Blending customized masculine clothing with additional womanly constituents, for instance, floral patterns on the fabric, created “persona” and yet another assortment of fashion design that mixed female features into masculine garments. These collections were the fall and winter lines.

Commes des Garcons partners with many other famous brand name companies, like Levi Strauss, Converse footwear (All Star), Nike, Cutler and Gross, Lacoste, Speedo, Moncler, Hammerthor, Louis Vuitton, Chrome Hearts and numerous additional popular fashion businesses. The company joined forces with H&M and brought out a new line of clothing in the fall of 2008.

Many famous movie stars wear Comme des Garcons clothing:

• Alexander McQueen
• Tilda Swinton
• Matt Bellamy
• Kanye West
• Mary-Kate Olsen
• Chloe Sevigny
• Leila Aldik
• John Waters
• Vincent Ng
• Aubrey Graham (Drake)
• Selma Blair
• Justin Bieber

Click Here to See Comme Des Garcons Perfume

In addition to the clothing line, Comme des Garcons carries perfume products as well, referred to as unisex fragrances. The majority of the perfumes is eccentric in the world of fragrances and coincides with the ideas of the garments made by the company, following the same spirits. They introduced their initial perfume in 1994. Four years later, a second kind of fragrance developed, the “anti-perfume – Odeur 53”, which consisted of a mixture of 53 non-conventional ingredients and experiments to develop a contemporary and outstanding aroma.

One collection of Comme des Garcons perfume is “Champaca” and is part of the Luxe collections. AN artist, Katerina Jebb, assisted with the visual for this particular fragrance.

In the Comme des Garcons Company, there are three designers:

• Rei Kawakubo (Owner and Founder)
• Junya Watanabe
• Tao Kurihara

There are numerous Comme des Garcons fashion collections. Each designer created specific product lines:


• Rei Kawakubo:
o Main Women’s Collection (began in 1973)
o Black-dominated feminine assortment (began in 1987)
o Women’s wear – Comme des Garcons Comme Des Garcons – Also known as “Comme Comme” (began in 1993)
o Commes des Garcons Homme Plus (began in 1994) and Homme Plus Sport – central men’s collection and a sporty addition to the Homme Plus assortment
o Homme Plus Evergreen Line – Previous assortments recreated
o Homme Deux – Formal wear, customized just for men (began in 1987)
o Comme des Garcons SHIRT collection – Shirt-conquered assortment (Began in 1988)

o PLAY collection – Designed for the younger generation of men and women and designed as casual clothing to wear while walking on the street – logos include a heart with bug-eyes (created as a partnership with an artist (graphic arts) from New York, Fillip Pagowski)
o A temporary line of fashion for men and women called “BLACK Comme des Garcons – the company offered lower prices for this collection of garments and sold it under the signature lines of “BLACK pop-up shops”

• Junya Watanabe:
o Japanese collection for men (began in 1978)
o Commes des Garcons Robe de Chambre – Japanese line for women (No longer on the market)
o Junya Watanabe lines for men, women and men who like pink – The pink collection is no longer on the market

Click Here to See More Comme Des Garcons Products

• Tao Kurihara:
o Tao Comme des Garcons Edited collection – Made for Japan’s edited stores, specialty products (began in 2005)
o The Tricot collection – Knitwear made especially for women