Hosoo Launches First Menswear Capsule With Luxury Hemp Fabric

MILAN — Hosoo, the Kyoto-based luxury textiles brand that has expertise in kimono silk through Nishijin weaving for more than 1,200 years, told WWD Wednesday that it has launched a limited-edition menswear capsule made using hemp material.

“This is just a start,” said Masataka Hosoo, a 12th-generation member of the founding family and its current president and chief executive officer. Hosoo, known for its kimono obi and interiors textiles, spoke to WWD at the Matter and Shape design salon in Paris about the unveiling of artisanal hemp, a luxury textile that reinterprets the fiber into a contemporary fabric suitable for everyday use. Hosoo has been an official supplier of kimono textiles for Japan‘s imperial nobles, the samurai class, and wealthy merchants in Japan since 1688.

The new men’s line consists of 22 pieces, including pants, shirts and kimonos, and was presented in Japan at the end of March at Hosoo Men, a flagship dedicated to menswear, located in the center of Kyoto within the Hosoo flagship. The firm is considering presenting the line again in June during Milan Men’s Fashion Week.

“The most important thing is the beauty. Aesthetics is central to our philosophy. With each generation that passes we ask this very philosophical question: What is the beauty? What is a human? What is [the meaning of] our life?” he said of the new collections.

Its new luxury hemp material incorporates technological innovation with about 10,000 years of history in Japan and came to fruition following in-depth research of the hemp textiles from the Edo period. As a result, the firm was able to replace numerous manual steps with advanced technologies and skilled know-how, significantly improving spinning efficiency and enabling the mechanical weaving of a 100 percent hemp fiber. This innovation allowed the firm to achieve the sort of quality that was once only attainable through hand-spun yarn and handlooms.

“It’s the same principle and philosophy as for the kimono, because kimono is passed from generation to generation,” he said, pointing out that Hosoo gained popularity in the contemporary design world through Peter Marino, who has used their textiles for his interiors designs for luxury retail spaces for over a decade.

Many of Hosoo’s experimental fabrics have come to be by elaborating on the Nishijin technique and incorporating as many as 9,000 threads for the warp. Hosoo has found that weaving thread-like strips of unexpected materials into the weft of its silks — anything from paper and gold leaf to LED — yields unique fabrics.

During Milan Design Week on April 20, Hosoo will unveil Wave Weave, a collaboration with internationally acclaimed artist Carsten Nicolai, reimagining textile culture through contemporary art and technology.

In recent years Masataka Hosoo has been working hard to demonstrate how his family’s fabrics can be used in a contemporary design context.

In 2024, its kimono Nishijin woven textile was displayed during Paris Fashion Week as part of LVMH Métiers d’Art‘s strategic partnership with Hosoo. The craftsmanship hub of the French luxury giant mounted the third iteration of Hosoo’s “Ambient Weaving” exhibition at its storefront headquarters, dubbed La Main, at 69 Rue de Réaumur.

In 2025, it showcased the Hemispheres collection in collaboration with Milan’s Dimorestudio. The silk materials, updated for a modern age were recently applied onto a new, retro collection made between Dimorestudio and Bonacina, which has been producing upscale rattan furniture since 1889.

Hosoo is also working on enhancing its facility in the Tango region of Kyoto. The firm is in the process of developing a 42,000-square-meter sericulture facility aimed at reconstructing silk from the genetic level, creating a new standard of beauty rooted in tradition and innovation.

Looking ahead, Hosoo continues to strive to ensure the future of Nishijin. Named after the textile heartland where it was first created, he compared it “to a designated heritage district, like Champagne in France.”