Freewheelers & Co. is a Japanese clothing brand established in Tokyo in 2009 by designer Atsushi Yasui, who had previously been instrumental in creating garments at The Real McCoy’s. Where The Real McCoy’s approached vintage reproduction with strict historical accuracy, Yasui’s Freewheelers takes what it calls a philosophy of “reference and reinvention” — taking the finest details and nuances from vintage American garments across the 20th century and rebuilding them for the contemporary wearer, without being beholden to strict reproduction specifications.
Key Facts
- Founded: 2009
- Founder/Designer: Atsushi Yasui
- Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan (DESOLATION ROW store, Jingumae, Shibuya)
- Industry: Vintage-Inspired Menswear, Heritage Apparel
History and Philosophy
Yasui cut his teeth at The Real McCoy’s before the constraints of strict reproduction left him wanting to do something more personal. He founded an earlier brand called The Bootleggers with friends, which found success with some designs reaching significant resale values in Japan, before renaming and relaunching as Freewheelers. The brand’s philosophy is stated directly on its website: they want to “recreate the spirit of craftsmanship fostered in the process of making America” — referencing the workwear, military clothing, and outdoor garments of early 20th-century American life, with 9their own interpretation and improvements rather than period-accurate reproduction.
Freewheelers operates a series of sub-labels, each romanticising a specific period or context: Great Lakes Gmt. Mfg. Co. (frontier workwear), The Union Special Overalls (railroad workwear), Neal Cassidy Railroad (locomotive culture), The Vanishing West (western Americana), and others. Each sub-label maintains its own distinct backstory, aesthetic, and period references. The brand operates its own retail store in Tokyo and distributes through specialist international stockists.
Product and Aesthetic
Freewheelers produces flight jackets, deck jackets, work shirts, jeans, military outerwear, peacoats, and accessories at the premium end of Japanese heritage clothing — rivalled only by The Real McCoy’s in its depth of American period reference and quality of execution. The brand uses 100% alpaca lining in its N-1 deck jackets — a detail that distinguishes its products from even the finest competition. Production is in limited quantities.
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