CA4LA – (pronounced  – Ka-shi-la – which means  – head – in Japanese) is by far the most prominent hat brand emerging from the empire of the rising sun.

If any reservation should prevail, the company’s motto is as clear a statement as can be:

“We are the brand entrusted with the inheritance of the tradition and the future of hats making.”

Written By Joyce Bidouzo-Coudray – Paris

Established in Tokyo around 1997 by the Weave Toshi Manufacturing Company, CA4LA instantly succeeded in transcending the very psyche of the hat experience with unbelievably rattling and ingenious designs that really infuse a high voltage dose of modern creativeness into the often stiffed formality of traditional craftsmanship.

Recalling the famous adage by ‘Magritte’: “This is not a hat” one would agree that in the world of CA4LA nothing is actually what it seems.  The brand signature style resides in its ability to turn  a simple ‘Canotier‘ straw hat or a ‘Gavroche‘ cap into state of the art high tech headgear; adorning one with an unusually smart leather trimming; or  weaving the other with a mercerized cupro fiber…in place of a conventional wool fabric.

CA4LA contributes to re-state the hat back to its pinnacle position as the ultimate fashion statement,  and doing so, it is winning over the caviling hearts of sharp style aficionados both in Japan (where the brand has no less than 25 self standing stores) and overseas, where their collections are sold in the best international retail emporiums.

With an impressive team of 15 in house designers, CA4LA ensures that there is always room for the refreshing and the unexpected. Each artisan is a creative maverick in his own right.

Designer by day, most of them turn into musicians, artists or even social apostates by night. They incorporate their rebellious youth and individual personalities in a creative process that leads them to the achievement of a modern style aesthetic that is as bold and elegant as it is idiosyncratically stunning.

A hat by CA4LA is by definition based on a clear distinction from any conventional ideology; reaching far beyond the limits of a simple need for protection against the elements.

This ‘out of the bitten path’ approach allows CA4LA to withhold a portfolio of exclusive designs and retains the kind of authenticated ‘collector’ status that would have iconic legends by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich and even Audrey Hepburn…weep with envy.

We are talking style statement at its utmost best!

The now fabled brand regularly boosts a string of groundbreaking creative collaborations involving cultural icons and celebrated artists  –  releasing an exclusive capsule collection entirely created from ‘never seen before’ illustration by no less than Andy Warhol and Vincent van Gogh;  internationally acclaimed fashion designers including: Ann-Sophie Back, Eley Kishimoto, Fred Perry, Neil Barrett, Puma and Stetson to name but a few; musicians and performing artists such as Kasabian and more recently the Boom Boom Satelittes

In 2003, CA4LA unveiled its unprecedented ‘test’ concept store in the heart of Tokyo’s Harajyuku district. Offering an alternative and more experimental take on high end retail, the select store stocks – alongside CA4LA’s own directional lines – specially chosen items from the world of international fashion and art such as Bless,  Christopher Coppens, Ann Demeulemeester, Paul Harden, Robert Geller, Tour de Force, Natalia Brili, Susuki Takayuk, Kokon To Zai, Marion Mille, Karen Walker and Linda Farrow .

In 2006, the CA4LA opened its first self standing flagship store overseas, in London’s Shoreditch area.

CA4LA states: “We care about and produce hats which are high in quality and made in Japan.”

we say ‘Chapeau’!

CA4LA collections are  available at self standing store in Japan and worldwide emporiums such as:

CA4LA London,
23 Pitfield Street,
Shoreditch,
London N1 6HB, UK

L’ECLAIREUR,
12 rue Malher
75004 Paris, FRANCE

BARNEYS NEW YORK MADISON AVENUE,
660 Madison Avenue,
New York 10065, USA

For more insight, please visit CA4LA website and watch the endearing short clip here.