Meet Shunsuke Watanabe, the Driving Force Behind Viri-Dari Deserta

[x_section style=”margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 45px 0px 45px 0px; “][x_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” bg_color=”” style=”margin: 0px auto 0px auto; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_column bg_color=”” type=”1/4″ style=”padding: 10px 10px 10px 10px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px; “][x_text class=”center-text “]by Chiyoko Takada

Photo credit: Courtesy of Viri-Dari Deserta[/x_text][/x_column][x_column bg_color=”” type=”3/4″ style=”padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_text]Viri-Dari Deserta is a Japanese organic cotton lounge wear brand founded in 2009 by Shunsuke Watanabe, a former football (soccer) player.

Although he was not interested in fashion growing up, he decided to take over his father’s sewing manufacturing business and worked with different designers and brands on project planning. This experience led to the start his own brand.

Shunsuke is also the president of three businesses: Artifex Co. – a design and production company, SDI – distribution and sales, and ING – a manufacturing company he took over from his father in 2014. He is actively involved in many social projects as a “social entrepreneur” including Vedruss Co. Ltd, a fashion brand specializing in organic cotton yoga wear and NPO Kids Saver, a volunteering association for kids. At NPO Kids Saver, different experts from different fields are brought in to teach kids about what they do and introduce them to new techniques. Kids have learned photography from Kazumi Kurigami, surfing from David Kinoshita, and football training with Shunsuke and Takeo Nishimura, both with professional coaching experience in Germany and Japan.

Chiyoko Takada: Let’s talk about how Viri-Dari Deserta came to life. You started “organic cotton” in 2009 when the concept of “organic” was not of great importance. Why did you want it to be “organic”?

Shunsuke Watanabe: I learned about organic cotton in 2007 working with the home-based companies and I was convinced the higher price point meant the quality of the product was better. I got used to dressing in nicer, more expensive things and my ego got the best of me. But as time passed, I began to question if the products themselves were actually “good” products.

I decided to educate myself and went to the root of the product – to the cotton. I remember going to the of the head of Avanti, a raw organic cotton company, and learned about how much pesticides and chemicals were involved in the process and how much it affected not only us, but the farm development, the environment, the labor and so much more. It had such a big effect on me that I started Viri-Dari in 2009.

Chiyoko: What does Viri-Dari Deserta mean?

Shunsuke: Viri-Dari Deserta is a classical Latin phrase meaning “A desert that turns green.” The phrase references the use of chemicals and pesticides that strip our land of our greenery.

Chiyoko: Who is your consumer?

Shunsuke: The brand is oriented to people who are conscious about the environment, excited and interested in making a better change. I don’t want to force sustainability onto people, but the brand exists for someone to make a choice for the better.

Chiyoko: How has the brand evolved since your launch in 2009?

Shunsuke: It’s been 11 years since the brand launched and new environmental as well as ethical problems have come up since then. We’ve continued to adapt, making the brand more environmentally friendly, like using cellulose to create biodegradable and recyclable clothing, eliminating the use of excess chemicals within fabric manufacturing and much more. We’ve also been working with other environment conscious companies to make organic cotton farms in areas that were hit by the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami in 2011.

Chiyoko: How are you doing amidst the pandemic? How are you handling the business?

Shunsuke: We closed up our retail store in Tokyo at the end of February for the health and safety of our workers and customers. The manufacturing company has less people, so we immediately shifted our operation to produce safety masks utilizing our organic cotton.

In the early stages of the pandemic, it seemed likely there could be a shortage on masks. Taking action came easily since we were already developing new bacteria-preventing fabrics. Our organic cotton doesn’t contain any pesticides or chemicals, so it’s particularly gentle on your face. We wasted no time getting the masks available for consumers.

Chiyoko: Have you had to make changes or are you able to continue designing your next collection?

Shunsuke: We already designed and completed our Spring/Summer 2020 and Fall/Winter collection 2020-2021, so it gave us the time and flexibility to adjust to the pandemic. By coincidence since 2017, I was working with companies in North Carolina, New York and Osaka to invent a fabric that works against the spreading of germs and bacteria. We were just about to implement them in our Fall/ Winter collection when the virus hit, so we had the perfect material to develop the masks. I hope everyone is excited about our Fall collection.

Chiyoko: Where are your clothes available ?

Shunsuke: As of now, we have one store in Tokyo, with most of our presence online. We have plans to grow internationally.

Chiyoko: We understand that you are actively involved in wide range of activities which has lead to a term called “social entrepreneur” – how did that come about?

Shunsuke: I have never called myself a social entrepreneur, but I am flattered. It came from a conversation I had in a past interview. We were trying to find a bracket term to describe what I do – designer, producer, football coach – and we realized most of my work revolves around improving the present and leaving good things behind for future generations. So along the way, “social entrepreneur” sneaked out from the ether.

Chiyoko: Biggest challenge of working as a social entrepreneur.

Shunsuke: The world we live in sometimes feels so dark and grim, based on our environment, climate, unethical labor… I think the biggest challenge is to be able to provide something for the future, and to make sure that what I’m doing is leaving some good behind that continues to grow for the better of our society.

Chiyoko: What are some things you’re looking forward to the most once we can get back to “normal”?

Shunsuke: I don’t think we’ll ever go back to “normal”. I think we’ll be reminded of how precious spending time with friends and family means. I’d like to visit the US to meet up with coworkers in New York and North Carolina, as well as visit a family member in Chicago.[/x_text][/x_column][/x_row][/x_section]