We are excited to introduce our readers to our very first collaboration. We have been around a little over two years now and thanks to your support, have really tapped into a great segment of the men’s lifestyle category. We have been talking about a collab for some time and realized we had the prefect partner literally right next door. Kiriko is based across the street from our Portland offices and we have been working with them since the early days. We were really drawn to their craftsmanship using old denim, hand-dyed shibori and kasuri from Japan to create handsome ties, scarves, belts, pocket squares and other accessories. As they like to say, “we make memories, not mass-produced goods.”
When we pow-wow’d about making a tie together, Kiriko’s team showed us a variety of fabrics, but this indigo print Chrysanthemum fabric really caught our eye. All of their products are made by hand from start to finish, another attention to detail that we respect. Speaking of, when discussing how to send these ties to tastemakers around the country, Kiriko came up with the idea of using a Sake inspired box. Naturally it was hand made from locally sourced wood in Portland. As Dawn explains in the video, “The Manual has a lot of story telling behind it and they want to tell a very specific story and in this case it is a Portland story and that is why we wanted this product to be an exclusive piece for The Manual.”
We are very proud of this first piece and are excited about other projects in the pipeline. Check out the video below to learn more about our process with Kiriko.
