Student model posing on stage, dressed in all-Yezo-deer-leather one-piece suit (in Sapporo, Hokkaido)
Hokkaido Bunka Fashion College in Sapporo, Hokkaido, presented its new line of clothes made of nothing else but Yezo deer leather at a fashion show it held on February 21, 2015, in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the first time for the college to make clothes only out of Yezo deer leather.
The collection was composed of five different clothes created by five third-year students who spent five months to complete the mission.
The idea of using the deer leather for clothing came out as the wild deer actually are causing over JPY6 billion of damages to agriculture and forestry annually in Hokkaido. In September 2014, the school launched “Hokkaido Project” in collaboration with leather products companies to learn about Yezo deer leather itself as a material and how to handle it when making clothes.
Aki Takahashi, 34, a designer of an all-Yezo-deer-leather hooded parker coat, commented, “I’m happy if the idea of using Yezo deer leather for clothing helps control the deer damages on industries.”
(Feb. 22, 2015)