How a search for exceptional textiles led us deeper into Japan.
This is not Marketing 101. Naked Revival is a wellness brand built around the life-elevating power of routines. Sleep. Movement. Recovery. Time outdoors. The small things we do repeatedly that shape the quality of our lives.
So where does Japan fit into that?
A certain kind of marketing brain might call our fascination with Japan a distraction. Off-brand. Outside the funnel. Not part of the flywheel. Not the beachhead strategy.
Trust me, we understand the argument but indulge in a chance to explain ourselves.
Where It Began
In 2023, Adam Besse, co-creator of REVIVE, and I traveled to Japan on a sourcing mission.
The objective was straightforward: find the world's best fabrics and factories and, in country renowned for craftsmanship, learn how they do it..
Osaka Fabric Showroom
Showroom - Harajuku
Fabric Mill town located in the mountains outside Osaka
For years, I'd admired Japan from afar. I'd traveled throughout Europe, Asia, and South America chasing factories, fabrics, and ideas. Yet somehow Japan had always remained just beyond reach.
When we set out to create the best foundational products we were capable of making, it felt impossible, no irresponsible, to ignore it any longer.
That journey eventually became an episode in our upcoming series, REVIVE.
What we discovered over ten days exceeded every expectation. Not simply as clothing designers or travelers but as human beings.
What Japan has cultivated is difficult to explain until you've experienced it.
It exists in the food, certainly. But also in the trains. The architecture. The craftsmanship. The technology. The art. The way strangers treat one another. The pride people take in even the smallest tasks.
View From the New York Bar Park Hyatt
Shibuya Crossing
Japan feels like a living demonstration of what can happen when generations of people decide that details matter.
And the cumulative effect is extraordinary. You leave inspired not because Japan makes you wish you were Japanese, although it does that too, but because it reminds you what human beings are capable of when they choose to build or do things well.
For a brand built around routines, rituals, and the environments that shape us, Japan didn't feel disconnected from the Naked Revival story at all.
Practically speaking, over those ten days, we rode countless trains, stayed out later than we should have, got our shoes meticulous shines, workout with old timers in a park, drank plenty of Asahi and black coffee, wandered unfamiliar streets, drove into the mountains and out to the coast, soaked in mineral pools, cold plunged, and ate more memorable meals than I could possibly recount (including some from convenience stores).
And somewhere along the way, we found the fabric. Literally. At a 150-year-old Japanese textile company whose commitment to craftsmanship felt increasingly rare in the modern world. For a clothing designer, it's a bit of an Indiana Jones moment. You pull a swatch from a stack of hundreds you've traveled the world to find, run it through your fingertips, and before you've read a single technical specification, you know.
That's the one.
The feeling is hard to explain. It's why we sit in dark theatres eating popcorn and smile when the protagonist finally finds the thing they've been searching for. Or the person. The music swells. We get goosebumps. For a brief moment, we believe in destiny all over again. Maybe I'm being overly romantic. Then again, maybe Japanese cotton is worth getting romantic about.
In a way, that was supposed to be the end of the story.
Mission accomplished.
We had come to Japan looking for exceptional fabrics and found them.
The man with the map to Japan's hidden mills, Steve
Shinagawa Station with Adam Besse
But as fate would have it, that was really only the beginning of our relationship with Japan.
Standing in the crowd outside Shibuya Crossing, we were unexpectedly invited onto a Japanese food show.
Taro and friends at Tokyo Confidential
With Taro - Host of Foreigners React Show
As it turns out, the host had grown up not far from where we're from Vancouver, before moving back to Tokyo.
The episode was a hit. We ate tonkatsu and shrimp, drank more sake than was strictly speaking, necessary, and were invited back the next time we visited Japan.
Then came an even more unexpected invitation. Reiwa no Tora. For those unfamiliar, it's the original "pitch your business to investors" television show. Long before Dragons' Den and Shark Tank, there was Reiwa no Tora.
We flew home and after a year of preparation, with a dedicated team of new friends in Japan, at least four re-watches of Lost in Translation, and a frankly disheartening amount of Duolingo (given my current grasp of the language), we returned to Japan to film the episode.
One of those new friends even volunteered to act as my translator.
We won't spoil how it went.
You can watch the episode here.
The Money Tigers
The results being revealed
The Show on Youtube
The following night, we returned to the food show.
More food. More sake.
Foreigners React Show
The appearance on Reiwa no Tora led to a third trip to Japan. We developed new products, visited our partner factories, and began laying the groundwork for future distribution in the country.
Here's a short routines film from that trip → [link]
But perhaps I'm losing the thread.
Or perhaps this is the thread.
We came to Japan looking for fabric.
What we found instead was friendship, opportunity, craftsmanship, adventure, and a growing connection to a place that continues to surprise us every time we return.
And to bring it back to foundations and routines, we didn't just make products in Japan.
Handa-San - Our distribution manager in Tokyo
Marketing Materials Arriving in Tokyo
We absorbed a culture.
Ideas like:
• Mottainai — nothing wasted
• Kaizen — the pursuit of constant refinement
• Danshari — clear space, clear mind
• Shiro — purity, white
• Hikari — light
They're more than words. They're principles that anchor a life. Principles that anchor a routine.
Last night in Tokyo Celebration
Japan is not a culture we claim or copy. It's a culture that reminds you, often in its quiet and powerful way, what becomes possible when care, repetition, and intention are taken seriously. In many ways, it's the most routine-oriented culture we've ever encountered. Deliberate and deeply considerate. Spending time there strengthened our belief that small, well-executed habits—repeated day after day—are what elevate life over time.
That belief sits at the heart of Naked Revival.
And our commitment to Kaizen—to getting a little better every day—sits at the heart of everything we create.
As for Japan itself, we've barely scratched the surface. There are more cities to explore. More lessons to learn. More friendships to build. More products to create. A lifetime's worth, if we're lucky.
And we look forward to sharing that journey with you.
Shop the Shiro Shirt.
