Camoshita (also marketed as Camoshita United Arrows) is a Japanese menswear label founded in 2007 by Yasuto Kamoshita — born in 1957, a founding co-director of United Arrows (1989) and one of the most photographed and influential men in Japanese and international menswear. The name is a Romanised play on his surname: “K is very Japanese,” Kamoshita has noted. “Replacing it with C adds an Italian twist, I think.” The brand represents Kamoshita’s personal creative statement — more intimate and idiosyncratic than his work at United Arrows — fusing American Ivy League style with Neapolitan tailoring softness and a distinctly Japanese eye for colour, detail, and restraint.
Key Facts
- Founded: 2007
- Founder/Designer: Yasuto Kamoshita (born 1957; Creative Director of United Arrows from 2004)
- Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan (United Arrows)
- Award: Pitti Immagine Uomo Award 2013 — first awarded in Asia
- Industry: Japanese Luxury Menswear, Tailoring
Background and Context
Kamoshita grew up in east Tokyo and came of age when menswear magazines like Popeye were spreading the Japanese fascination with American Ivy League style in the 1970s. He studied architecture at Tama Art University before gravitating toward clothing — initially at Beams, where he became a buyer, then departing in 1989 to co-found United Arrows with Hirofumi Kurino and Osamu Shigematsu. United Arrows became one of Japan’s most important multi-brand retailers and menswear brands; Kamoshita served as Creative Director from 2004. Camoshita launched in 2007 as a sub-label under the United Arrows umbrella — a vehicle for Kamoshita’s most personal design work, unencumbered by the commercial requirements of the parent brand.
In 2013, Camoshita became the first Asian brand to win the Pitti Immagine Uomo Award — given to the designer or brand that best represents the evolution of international menswear at the Florence trade show. Kamoshita has said Camoshita is “about the Japanese way of getting dressed”: the particular combination of ease, precision, and understatement that Japan brings to Western clothing traditions.
Aesthetic
Collections centre on soft-shouldered tailoring — blazers, suits, trousers — in quality Japanese and Italian fabrics, with a colour palette inspired by mid-century American prep (Steve McQueen, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Serge Gainsbourg) and a construction sensibility drawn from Neapolitan sartorial tradition. Donegal tweeds, grey flannel, and seasonal colour stories are constants. The brand also produces knitwear, shirts, and accessories. Available internationally at No Man Walks Alone, The Rake, MR PORTER, and specialist menswear retailers.
Sources: