Up for sale here is a pair of pants from Mountain Research, one of those cult labels that doesn’t get the exposure it deserves outside of Japan. Mountain Research is a line of “….. Research”, designed by Setsumasa Kobayashi, and started in 2007. Before …… Research, Kobayashi was the designer for a label called General Research, also very much a cult label in Japanese streetwear, very much a peer of Undercover, Bathing Ape and the like. General Research ran from 1993 to 2006. After that Kobayashi wanted to branch out into various types of clothing, hence the ….. Research label.
….. Research actually encompasses several labels, depending on where Kobayashi decides to focus. The longest running is Mountain Research. Other branches with intermittent releases have included Naval Research, Prisoner Research, War Field Wear Research, Horse Blanket Research, etc., etc.
With Mountain Research you essentially have the combination of a very forward-thinking punk aesthetic with more traditional outdoor wear. Kobayashi and Mountain Research have a lot of similarities with Undercover actually, where they’ve both got a pretty strong punk influence that they often apply. The idea here is to tweak classic outdoors wear to a more modern fit, often with interesting details and quality materials.
These pants come from the fall-winter 2010 collection. They are called the “piped stem” pants as you can see on the label, and have some pretty interesting details. Fabric is a 50\50 cotton/polyester blend. This is a workwear style fabric, medium in weight and nicely resilient. Design is very interesting, in that this seems to combine outdoors style pants with something slightly more structured and formal. You have the standard four pocket set up with a straight leg silhouette with the addition of a few subtle details. Rear has a cinch toward the waist, allowing you to adjust the size. There is also an extra small pocket on the right leg, cuffed legs, a zip fly and branded waistband button.
Like many of these smaller Japanese labels, Mountain Research produces in very limited quantities (they only have one shop in a residential Tokyo neighborhood). This particular model is now long gone. Japanese retail was around $400. Availability is even more limited outside of Japan, and it definitely would have run quite a bit more if you could find it.
Size is labeled a large and fits a 34” waist well. I measure the waist at 34”, inseam at 29” (note this is the cuffed measurements, and the cuffs are sewn in and not intended to be let out), rise at 9” and leg opening at 8.25”. This is a straight leg fit, pleasantly right in the middle of loose and tight. The pants come in lightly worn, very good shape with no holes, tears or stains. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $30.