Kosuke Yamagishi (JPN), fashion brand owner , Tokyo

Bringing tattoos and fashion together, that was the idea behind The Softmachine (softmachine-org.com), a clothing brand which Kosuke and his partner in crime Shu started in 2002. 

“Shu used to be a tattooer and I worked in a clothing shop. It’s as simple as that. There’s no well thought about goal though, we just keep on going. The clothes can now be found in shops all over Japan, as well as in China, Taiwan, Mexico, Australia and Russia.

Kosuke’s moustache is another thing that strikes when meeting him. “3 years ago, I became good friends with Shigeo, an artist with who I had one obvious thing in common: a moustache. At the same time I was talking with another friend, a proud owner of a nice stache as well, about starting our own moustache related brand.

The tree of us joined forces, that became Master of Mustache (masterofmustache.com). We now sell moustache wax, combs and t-shirts, as a unique brand in Japan. 

The brand also resulted in the Black Social Mustache Club, a gathering of moustached like-minded people.