I first came to Tokyo in 2023 for a bit of a break. I had just finished collaborating with Salomon, where I had been an artistic consultant from the age of 18, not long after I had founded my brand, Phileo. We worked on shoes like the Speedverse PRG and, later, the XT-SP1 trainers [that became a huge success].
I started my first business when I was 13. I used to do freestyle scootering at a skatepark in Paris and wanted to create my own spare parts. So I made my own brand, Bunker Scootering, to sell them. I would spend all my earnings on sneakers. It was a big moment for Nike, and I would camp outside the store to get the new releases.
Aoyama-dori Avenue © Tak Sugita
I designed my first shoes, a mix between a sneaker and a tennis shoe, when I was 15 or 16 – they weren’t amazing, looking back on it, but I was lucky that I had supportive parents. I met artist Katerina Jebb in 2019, when I was about 17. She ran the first-ever campaign for the brand and introduced me to Adrian Joffe [the president of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market]. I joined Dover Street Market in 2021 after launching my first collection in London, Paris and New York.
Philéo Landowski in the shopping district of Omotesando © Tak Sugita
