Continued from Vol. 1.

--The launch's impressive brand lineup, including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Head Porter, Mackintosh, and Daikanyama Tsutaya Bookstore, drew a lot of attention.

I originally had many friends in the fashion, music, and art industries, and when I joined origami, I instinctively knew I needed to include top brands. Users want good brands. High-end brands attract customers. Moreover, if we can't get them on board at the start, it will be very difficult to get them to join later.

Meanwhile, we're also actively incorporating emerging Tokyo designer brands like GARTER TOKYO and D.TT.K. Supporting young designers like them is also important. It would be boring for users if we only had major brands. Until now, running an in-house e-commerce business required setting up a website, which was expensive. While there are commerce sites where you can set up a store for free, it can be difficult to generate traffic. With origami, we can take advantage of the viral effect of likes and shares, as well as being featured in editorial sections (recommended categories).

--What is an editorial section?

In addition to featuring brands we think are great, we also have media outlets create editorial pages for us. Currently, we only have pages for Condé Nast and Hiroshi Fujiwara, but we plan to partner with various media outlets in the future. In the long term, we also want to display content that suits each user. For example, "Smart" for streetwear lovers, "Vogue" for luxury lovers, and art features for art lovers. It's like a showcase for the app, and we want to ensure it's high quality, so we always work with media outlets to create it.

There's also a map function that shows nearby shops, and we'd like this to prioritize favorite stores, followed by items recommended by friends.

--What are your future plans?

We're planning to release an Android app and launch in New York soon. We're currently in talks with Kate Spade and other luxury brands. Our team is all Japanese, so we started in Japan. New York is likely the next market. It's home to Silicon Valley and other tech startups, so we'll compete there.

I'm British but Japanese at heart. I want to support Japan's growth as a country. I believe that companies make Japan a better place. New companies will create Japan's future. I hope that origami will contribute to Japan's development.