¿Qué es MISTERGENTLEMAN? Mr. Gentleman, Big-O y SOFTHYPHEN
What is MISTERGENTLEMAN? MISTERGENTLEMAN, often searched as Mr. Gentleman or MR.GENTLEMAN, is the Tokyo menswear label Takeshi Osumi and Yuichi Yoshii founded in 2012 around everyday basics with slight twists in detail and silhouette. This guide covers the brand story, key collabs, and the later SOFTHYPHEN name for U.S. shoppers.
Cover photo: Mr. Gentleman / MISTERGENTLEMAN — image provided for EastLyst cover use.
The label sat closer to Tokyo Fashion Week and Aoyama retail than to 1990s Ura-Harajuku founding shops, but it still touches the Fujiwara network via fragment collabs — see our fragment design explainer.
Who Are Takeshi Osumi and Yuichi Yoshii?
Takeshi Osumi, known as Big-O, was born in 1974 in Shizuoka Prefecture, according to GQ Japan. He debuted in 1996 with hip-hop unit SHAKKAZOMBIE, started the streetwear label SWAGGER in 1999, and launched PHENOMENON in 2004. Hypebeast notes PHENOMENON’s Tokyo Fashion Week runway in 2010 and an MCM special-goods partnership that same year.
Yuichi Yoshii came from THE CONTEMPORARY FIX, the select shop and lifestyle buyer side of the story. Fashion Press named him as Osumi’s designer-duo partner at launch. Hypebeast later describes Yoshii as the brand’s designer and president/CEO of PARIYA, Inc., the company Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO lists as the head office in Kojimachi, Tokyo.
Founding MISTERGENTLEMAN in 2012
Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, Fashion Press, Hypebeast, and GQ Japan all place the start in 2012. Fashion Press’s January 2012 notice used the English form MR.GENTLEMAN for a 2012 spring/summer pre-first collection, with a full first collection planned for 2012 autumn/winter, exhibitions, and nationwide select-shop sales.
The early concept was simple: the basic styles Osumi and Yoshii liked every day, with minimal design and clear color. Fashion Press said those first spring/summer pieces would land at THE CONTEMPORARY FIX in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and at Paris select shop Colette. Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO later summarized the brand as exploring “Basic,” adding slight incongruities to detail, silhouette, and styling, and calling the result “post modern clothing.”
From 2013, Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO says the duo presented at Tokyo Fashion Week through runways, image films, and other formats. Fashion Press’s brand history adds that for 2017 spring/summer the English spelling shifted to the one-word form MISTERGENTLEMAN, which is the spelling most fashion week and press pages keep using.
Aoyama Flagship and Asia Stores
The brand’s Tokyo face was not a back-alley Harajuku booth. Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO lists an official store at 5-50-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. Mash Holdings’ press release and Fashion Press date the first domestic flagship there to February 10, 2018, in the Aoyama area.
Mash’s 2018 notice also planned a Shanghai Jing’an shop for March as the first store of a global expansion push, alongside a Tokyo Fashion Week runway after a two-year gap. A November 2019 Hypebeast report on the fragment capsule lists MISTERGENTLEMAN stores in Hong Kong (K11 Art Mall, Tsim Sha Tsui), Shanghai (Tongren Road, Jing’an), and Japan, plus a Shibuya PARCO pop-up. Treat those as reported retail points, not a claim that EastLyst ever stocked the line.
Dickies, fragment design, and Other Collabs
Hypebeast’s Osumi obituary groups the label’s partners as ranging from fragment design to Dickies. The Dickies capsule is easy to pin down: Fashion Press and Hypebeast Japan covered a 2017 autumn/winter sten-collar coat and work pants in Dickies chino twill, with pants based on the 874, cropped and semi-wide, in beige, gray, and black, on sale from July 28, 2017 at THE CONTEMPORARY FIX and select shops.
The fragment design link is the one U.S. streetwear readers usually notice. At Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo for fall/winter 2019, Hypebeast flagged a navy satin bomber with heavy co-brand embroidery. In November 2019 Hypebeast detailed the full capsule, titled “MISTERGENTLEMAN & the ADOPTED SON (fragment),” with reversible bombers and hoodies carrying Fujiwara’s lightning bolt, patched shirts and a glen check coat, pocket tees, and a Shibuya PARCO-exclusive embroidered cap, launching November 22 at Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Japanese stores.
Fashion Press’s brand history also names a 2015 VANS collaboration sneaker and a 2016 Starter Black Label award jacket, plus a longer list that includes Karrimor, Orphic, uka, and gelato pique. This article only treats those as named partnerships at that level of detail. For Fujiwara’s wider story, return to our fragment design explainer.
WAVE and the Culture Side Project
Outside seasonal clothes, Osumi and Yoshii also worked on a WAVE culture project that nodded to the old Roppongi-era record shop. Fashion Press places that restart in its 2017 timeline. Houyhnhnm covered 2018 pop-ups at MISTERGENTLEMAN Aoyama and THE CONTEMPORARY FIX Kyoto. Numero TOKYO reported a Shibuya PARCO first-floor MICRO WAVE kiosk around November 22, 2019.
Secondary sources disagree on a single “founding year.” Hypebeast’s obituary says 2017; GQ Japan says 2019. Safer reading: a late-2010s relaunch with documented 2018 pop-ups and a 2019 PARCO kiosk, not one undisputed open date.
Osumi’s Death in 2021
GQ Japan reports that Osumi died of sepsis in hospital on January 24, 2021, at age 47. Hypebeast and GQ published the news on February 3, 2021. The funeral was for close family only.
The fall/winter 2021-22 MISTERGENTLEMAN collection, which he worked on from his hospital room, was still expected at Tokyo Fashion Week in March. Fashion Press later describes that 2021 autumn/winter show as a tribute presentation.
Yoshii’s statement, carried by both Hypebeast and GQ, said the news was too sudden to accept, that the roughly ten years since meeting Takeshi were irreplaceable, and that the pair had shared daily life and put scenery, music, movies, and food into the clothes.
From MISTERGENTLEMAN to SOFTHYPHEN
WWDJAPAN reported in March 2022 that, at the tenth anniversary, MISTERGENTLEMAN would rebrand to SOFTHYPHEN (ソフトハイフン). After Osumi’s death the brand had skipped a 2022 spring/summer MISTERGENTLEMAN collection. Yoshii told WWD he had repeatedly wondered whether to stop, then chose to keep walking while looking back.
The new name borrows the soft hyphen, the digital mark that lets a long word break across a line. WWD says the brand dropped the spring/summer to autumn/winter show cycle, widened sizing for unisex wear, renewed the Aoyama store and official e-commerce in mid-April, and kept wholesale with existing accounts. The debut SOFTHYPHEN range was about 150 styles, returning to the early “postmodern clothing” idea of trad and basic with a twist, including some MISTERGENTLEMAN archive revivals.
Mash Style Lab’s press release sets the Aoyama street store and online relaunch for April 22, 2022, at the same Jingumae address, with softhyphen.tokyo as the site and a casual side project called NEWYOURS. As of Fashion Press’s brand page accessed on 2026-10-26, SOFTHYPHEN was paused as of summer 2025. This article does not invent a reopen date.
Why MISTERGENTLEMAN Still Matters for Asian Streetwear Shoppers
If you map Japanese streetwear from the United States, MISTERGENTLEMAN is a useful middle chapter. It is not a 1990 NOWHERE founding myth like BAPE or UNDERCOVER. It is a 2012 Tokyo answer to basics: Big-O’s street and hip-hop path meeting Yoshii’s select-shop eye, shown at Tokyo Fashion Week, stocked from Aoyama to Shanghai and Hong Kong, and briefly tied to Fujiwara through the ADOPTED SON capsule.
That makes it a bridge between archive PHENOMENON energy and cleaner “postmodern” staples. For the older Harajuku lane, read our pieces on BAPE and NIGO and NIGO, Pharrell, Billionaire Boys Club, and HUMAN MADE. For a wider shopping map, use the Asian Streetwear Guide.
What we do carry is a broader edit in our Asian Streetwear collection. Outfit ideas live in What Is Streetwear? 15 Streetwear Outfit Ideas.
FAQ
What is MISTERGENTLEMAN / Mr. Gentleman?
MISTERGENTLEMAN is a Tokyo menswear label founded in 2012 by Takeshi Osumi and Yuichi Yoshii. Early English branding used MR.GENTLEMAN; Fashion Press says the one-word MISTERGENTLEMAN spelling arrived for 2017 spring/summer. Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO frames the clothes as basics with slight incongruities, or “post modern clothing.”
Who founded Mr. Gentleman?
Takeshi Osumi (Big-O) and Yuichi Yoshii. Osumi’s path ran through SHAKKAZOMBIE, SWAGGER (1999), and PHENOMENON (2004). Yoshii came from THE CONTEMPORARY FIX and PARIYA. Fashion Press, Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, Hypebeast, and GQ Japan all name the pair as the 2012 founders.
Did MISTERGENTLEMAN collaborate with fragment design?
Yes. Hypebeast covered a fall/winter 2019 capsule titled “MISTERGENTLEMAN & the ADOPTED SON (fragment),” first seen at Tokyo Fashion Week in March 2019 and released more fully in November 2019 across Japan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai stores. Pieces included co-branded bombers, hoodies, shirts, and a PARCO-exclusive cap.
What is SOFTHYPHEN?
SOFTHYPHEN is the name MISTERGENTLEMAN took in spring 2022 for its tenth anniversary, per WWDJAPAN and Mash’s press release. The project went unisex, dropped seasonal show cycles, and relaunched the Aoyama store on April 22, 2022. Fashion Press reports the SOFTHYPHEN brand was paused as of summer 2025.
When did Takeshi Osumi die?
GQ Japan reports January 24, 2021, at age 47, from sepsis. Hypebeast and GQ published the news on February 3, 2021. His final MISTERGENTLEMAN fall/winter collection was still shown that March at Tokyo Fashion Week as a tribute season.