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Article: 1930s - Founding and Miracles Beyond the Sea

1930年代 - 創立と海を超えた奇跡

1930s - Founding and Miracles Beyond the Sea

Leather town, Asakusa

Kadoya is the oldest leather jacket manufacturer in Japan. The corporate spirit of challenge and innovation has not wavered during the 70 years since its founding. Kadoya has been operating in Asakusa since its founding.

Kadoya was founded in Asakusa in 1935, six years before the start of World War II.

The store name at the time of its founding was “Kadoya Leather Clothing Store”. It is a so-called clothing store. In Asakusa, a town of craftsmen, there were many similar clothing stores from those days.

Asakusa, Tokyo has long been home to many leather wholesalers, and many leather goods were made there. In Asakusa, where competition is fierce, why has Kadoya become a manufacturer known not only in Japan but also overseas?

Founder Shojiro Fukano

Since its inception, Kadoya has also repaired and redyed leather goods. At that time, leather was a valuable material, and while making our own products, we often responded to requests such as "Please make tabi socks and leather jackets from this leather" or "Please re-dye this leather jacket".

Even today, custom-made products are one of the pillars of Kadoya, but it is the late founder Shojiro Fukano who, of course, accepts custom sizes to suit the user 's taste. This is because the idea of ​​“things that can be remade” is still alive and well.

Shojiro Fukano 1935 Showa 10

Founder Shojiro Fukano opens Kadoya Leather Clothing Store in Asakusa, Tokyo.

Taking advantage of the location of Asakusa, a mecca for the leather industry, they repair leather products, re-dye them, and make leather clothing. The leather jackets made by Shojiro, who loves motorcycles, become popular, and eventually a large number of riders who have their own opinions gather.

Miracles of the 1930's

According to Rintaro Tanaka, a researcher of motorcycle jackets, leather jackets have a history of about 100 years. It is believed to have originated in England, but it was first made for motorcycles in the United States in the 1930s.

It was just around the same time that Kadoya was founded.

“My father also liked motorcycles, so he often made leather jackets for motorcycles. Originally, he made all sorts of leather products , but the shop became famous for making leather jackets, and there were many riders. I came to come.”

(Masataka Fukano, the eldest son of the late founder Shojiro Fukano and the current chairman)

At that time, there was no such thing as a textbook on how to make a leather jacket. There were many requests for repairs and resizing of leather jackets sold by the U.S. military, and Shojiro learned how to make Western leather jackets there.