Needles

The brand's official profile page says Keizo Shimizu established Needles in 1995, and names him as the Nepenthes founder and the Needles designer. It names no co-founders. Juice Store gives a different date, saying Shimizu founded Needles as a sub-brand in 1997. We could not settle the disagreement from the sources we opened.

Hypebeast's profile of Shimizu gives his title as owner and director of Nepenthes and owner and designer of Needles. It describes Nepenthes as an umbrella company that houses Engineered Garments, Needles, South2 West8 and Sonic Labs. The Needles website's copyright line reads "NEPENTHES Co.,Ltd.", although the page does not say how that company relates to the brand.

Hypebeast says Nepenthes was launched in 1988 in Aoyama, Tokyo, as a fashion distribution firm. Juice Store says Needles' first item was a loose-fitting suit jacket inspired by one Miles Davis wore in the 1960s.

Hypebeast says Shimizu's Needles designs draw on his travel, life experiences and historical magazines, with American Western, workwear and bohemian influences. Juice Store says the tracksuit with butterfly embroidery was inspired by Steve McQueen's chest tattoo in the film Papillon, and Hypebeast describes a Papillon PVC mule with the brand's signature butterfly embroidery.

The official profile page describes REBUILD by NEEDLES as a remake wear capsule collection that began in 2010. END. Clothing's Australian site lists track jackets, track pants, T-shirts, hoodies, caps and pendant necklaces.

Complex reported in March 2018 on an AWGE x Needles collaboration with a track jacket and a narrow track pant in blue, pink and green, available from 16 March; the article gave no prices. Its author wrote that A$AP Rocky was integral in the previous year's booming sales for the Japanese label headed by Keizo Shimizu.

END. Clothing (Australia) lists a Junya Watanabe MAN x Needles cotton satin nylon bomber at AU$2,429, and a NOMARHYTHM TEXTILE x Needles Rebuild coverall jacket at AU$1,095, reduced to AU$548.

The Needles website lists stores by region only (Tokyo, Kansai, Okinawa and others, plus overseas regions), names no individual stores and shows no online shop. Hypebeast said a December 2025 capsule was available exclusively at Nepenthes. END. Clothing sells Needles in Australia.

END. Clothing (Australia) listed the Papillon pocket T-shirt at AU$175, the velour track hoodie at AU$509, the sateen track jacket at AU$439, the sateen track pants at AU$385 (AU$270 on sale) and a jacquard baseball cap at AU$189 (AU$104 on sale). These are one retailer's listings in Australian dollars with no date, seen in October 2026, and not prices confirmed by the brand.