About 1 or 2 years after starting BATONER, I had the opportunity to connect with a few staff members who shared my vision, and they gradually joined the team.
As a result, about 3 or 4 years into the brand, sales started to grow a little, and both the people and numbers began to rise, giving the brand a sense of shape and identity during its initial launch phase.
When I was alone, I did everything myself, even driving my samples to the exhibition venue in my car all the way to Tokyo.
Having those team members come on board was a huge support.
In the case of BATONER, we don't heavily promote through press, so as we gradually increased our customer base, we started to see more opportunities to be noticed by our partners, and that small circle began to grow.
As that happened, we naturally got more opportunities to be featured in magazines and other media.
There hasn't been a sudden explosion; it's been a gradual process, little by little.
Even now, it continues to be that way.
I believe that our brand is one that allows customers to feel the quality, both now and in the past, and I want to continue to focus on that in the future.