Sneaker freak Japanese chef who swaps food for the latest Off-Whites – and queues hours for jewellery
- AJs, Air Force 1s, Nike SBs, Off-Whites – Hong Kong-based Shun Sato has over 200 pairs of trainers, and loves vintage kimonos, and denim of course
- He once queued 10 hours in Harajuku, Tokyo, with singer/actor Shawn Yue to buy Goro hand-made jewellery
Shun Sato, chef at Hong Kong Japanese restaurant Fukuro, brings Japanese flavour to a wardrobe filled with one-of-a-kind treasures and limited-edition trainers. While Sato loves a uniform – denim and kimono-style jackets are staples – he makes sure his look is his alone by sourcing materials himself and acquiring footwear and jewellery not available for general release.
“I have a lot of kimonos. I pick up the materials by myself, and the designs are made from kimonos that are more than 100 years old,” Sato says. “There’s a denim one that is Visvim and that’s always good material – expensive stuff. I find the materials myself in Japan. Or when I wanted to do a bandana, I contacted a friend in the US to look for some paisley and flannel.”
Styles Sato wears for work
“At Fukuro, chefs wear indigo pants and a T-shirt. Japanese people love denim, so we wear basically a pair of chef’s pants, but we changed the colour to indigo to look like denim. And floor staff wear a denim jacket and T-shirt and bandana. I really love [the material], so basically I talked to the boss about making [the uniform] in denim.”
Styles Sato wears for leisure