Where Mind Flow Zone Grid came from

Aiko Murakami spent seven years as a buyer for a department store in Ginza before she opened Mind Flow Zone Grid in the spring of 2019. She had spent those years sourcing ready-to-wear from European brands and noticed, consistently, that the swimwear and lingerie categories were either mass-produced at a price point that required cutting corners on fabric, or so expensive that the markup was mostly brand name. She wanted something in between: genuinely good materials, a quiet aesthetic, and a price that reflected the actual cost of making the thing rather than the cost of advertising it.

Aiko Murakami trained as a textile buyer at Isetan Mitsukoshi before spending seven years in the Ginza buying office of a mid-size department group, where she sourced European ready-to-wear and developed relationships with mills in Lyon and northern Italy. She opened Mind Flow Zone Grid in Shimokitazawa in spring 2019 after growing frustrated with the gap between fabric quality and retail price in the swimwear category. She visits her Lyon supplier, Maison Tarare, every October. On quiet mornings she plays Chet Baker records while she reviews new fabric samples. Her regular, Mrs. Tanaka from Setagaya, has been ordering since the first Instagram post.