There is no one origin story in fashion – but that of John Lawrence Sullivan and its founder Arashi Yanagawa stands out, because from the boxing ring to the tailor’s workshop, the designer transforms the discipline and precision of his former boxing career into a formal language full of tradition, subculture and craftsmanship sophistication.
With his debut at Berlin Fashion Week, presented as part of the intervention of Reference Studios, which has previously presented designers such as GmbH and Anonymous Club, Yanagawa now takes the stage again. FashionUnited takes a look at his path and the impulses that have shaped his collections for over two decades.
Boxing gloves versus tailoring
Yanagawa began his career far from the catwalk. As a young man from Hiroshima, he aspired to represent Japan at the Olympics as a boxer. He fought successfully as an amateur for several years, including winning the flyweight title at the Japanese National Championships during his university years, but then everything changed.
As he explained to the Tokyo-based online platform Sabukaru, he dropped out of his studies last year after his chances of taking part in the Olympics diminished. Shortly afterwards he was discovered by Yoko Gushiken – a former Japanese professional boxer, Olympian – and rose to the professional ranks. He boxed professionally for four years without winning any major titles. This was followed by a radical change of direction in the fashion world.
Today, the name of the brand in particular, an allusion to the professional boxer John Lawrence Sullivan, is still reminiscent of his former Olympic dream, but Yanagawa had been fascinated by clothing and its associations since he was a child. Despite his boxing career, his interest in clothing remained alive. In Tokyo’s lively Harajuku district, he browsed boutiques and second-hand stores, always with the idea of one day breaking into the industry himself. After his time as a professional boxer, he looked for ways to continue pursuing his passion.
However, he did not find his first spark in his homeland, but during a trip to London. There, places like Camden Market and Portobello Road Market told stories of radically personal style, the designer recalled in an interview with the online platform Sabukaru. There, people combined blazers and coats with tracksuits, played with unusual proportions and created looks that broke nothing with convention. Compared to Japan, where fashion often follows unwritten rules, Yanagawa found this free self-expression liberating. At the same time, he was inspired by the combination of individuality and traditional craftsmanship.
After his return to Japan, Yanagawa took his first concrete steps towards fashion. He began selling leather jackets from London in a space provided by a friend in the Nakameguro district. At the same time, he was intensively involved in the construction of clothing. He dismantled his own vintage jackets, studied cuts, materials and workmanship and developed an ever deeper understanding of the craft. He even took apart his favorite jacket, convinced that this process was an investment in the future, as he later explained to the fashion magazine 10 Magazine.
To this day, attention to detail in cut and material is one of the central characteristics of the Tokyo-based brand. Yanagawa is considered to be extremely selective in his choice of fabrics; almost all materials are developed specifically for his collections. His regular visits to Bishu, one of the most important wool production areas in Japan, play a key role. These trips, he explained in an interview with the Woolmark Company, are essential for the existence of his brand. In exchanges with the workers on site, he repeatedly discovers materials, structures and qualities that live on in his collections.
Between precision and subculture
Aesthetically, John Lawrence Sullivan moves in a field of tension between craftsmanship precision and subcultural reference. Yanagawa’s designs translate traditional materials into a contemporary, deliberately exciting design language – an approach that has given the brand profile and international recognition over the years.
While his designs draw on diverse cultural influences, from the music playing in the studio to film, theater, art and literature, the foundation of his work always remains the material itself. The choice of fabrics is deeply rooted in Japanese textile tradition, even when the aesthetic result seems punk, raw or subversive.
This tension also shapes Yanagawa’s approach to punk, which he sees less as a stylistic reference than as a structural principle. Punk serves him as a tool to question established systems of order, body and clothing. In previous shows, which opened with live performances from British band Wild Daughter, post-punk and gothic rock sounds met tightly constructed cuts and a controlled silhouette. The provocative energy of the music was in conscious contrast to the precision of the tailoring, an interplay that sees rebellion not as chaos, but as a conscious shift in rules.
This approach is particularly visible in tailoring. Classic tailoring techniques, traditionally strongly gender coded, are rethought by John Lawrence Sullivan. Proportions shift, shoulders are emphasized or relaxed, waists are opened, trouser lengths and jacket cuts are rethought. Here, punk does not function as an aesthetic exaggeration, but rather as an impulse to break down rigid categories. This creates a form of gender fluidity that is not based on decoration or symbolism, but is developed from the construction of the garment itself.
Since 2010, when the brand began combining menswear and womenswear, this attitude has continued to grow. Silhouettes are deliberately kept ambivalent without losing their formal rigor. Traditional craftsmanship, subcultural energy and an open conception of body and identity merge into a design language in which control and freedom, strength and vulnerability are equally present.
Against this background, the focus now turns to Berlin. With his debut as part of Berlin Fashion Week, Yanagawa encounters a city whose cultural identity is as strongly shaped by music, subculture and history as it is by an independent idea of freedom and resistance. The German capital has always been a place where fashion, sound and social attitudes merge, creating an environment that is in many ways reminiscent of the areas of tension that John Lawrence Sullivan has been exploring for years. The fashion designer has already diligently gained his first experiences with guest appearances in other countries in recent years, as his collections have been presented not only in Tokyo but also in Paris and London.
Which impulses the designer will now take up and bring to Berlin remains to be seen. It is conceivable that the interplay of his interests – music, subculture, precision craftsmanship as well as the examination of the body, identity and tradition – will find new resonance spaces at Berlin Fashion Week.
John Lawrence Sullivan will show his fall/winter 2026 collection on February 2nd at 5 p.m. as part of Berlin Fashion Week. Other program highlights include fashion shows by GmbH, Richert Beil, Lueder and Sia Arnika. Berlin Fashion Week takes place from January 30th to February 2nd.
