mone house's hand-printed T-shirts carefully made one by one

The "Yubari Melon Logo T-shirt" is made by Motoyo Sugawara of mone house.

mone house produces and sells a variety of products, including T-shirts, with the hope that people will add various sensibilities to their daily lives and cherish their own sense of "like.

The charm of mone house's T-shirts is the warm texture of each silk-screened, hand-printed T-shirt. The cute designs and striking colors are also very attractive, and you will want to have T-shirts of different designs or wear them with the whole family.

We interviewed Ms. Sugawara, who says she aims to create a new image of the town and an opportunity to connect with it through the T-shirts.

Changing the image of Yubari" with T-shirts

Mr. Sugawara says he always thought it was interesting that people's impressions could be greatly changed by the way they dressed. He says he has always wanted to "change the image of Yubari" by producing T-shirts for his hometown, Yubari City.

I have always had the theme of wanting to change the image of Yubari in my mind," he said. When I think about promoting Yubari, T-shirts can go far and wide, even overseas. Moreover, a T-shirt is a PR tool just because people wear it. Even if it is just loungewear, the person wearing the T-shirt will always be wearing Yubari, and may even be reminded of Yubari from time to time. In fact, "Yubari" is always around us.

The Domingo editorial staff also learned about the wonderful activities in Yubari through the mone house T-shirts, such as "Shimizu Sour" and "Yubetsu Kenkyujo," so it makes a lot of sense that the T-shirts are a good opportunity to get to know the city.

The reason why we insist on printing T-shirts by hand is because we want to deliver what we think is good to the people who think it is good.

I once outsourced T-shirt printing, but when I saw the finished product, I thought, 'Oh, it's not at all what I imagined. The colors and balance I had imagined were a little different from what came out. But I didn't have the money to have it redone, and it was difficult to tell them. I decided that the best way to create exactly what I imagined was to hand-print the t-shirts myself, so I have been doing that for the past four years.

All T-shirts sold today are designed, printed, and printed by Mr. Sugawara.

I used to hate my hometown Yubari, but now I am proud of it.

Ms. Sugawara, a native of Yubari, left her hometown after graduating from high school and worked as a nursery school teacher in Nara and Kagoshima. What kind of feelings did she have toward Yubari?

I stayed in Yubari until high school, but I wanted to get out of Yubari anyway, and I didn't like Hokkaido because it is nothing but nature. I was the kind of person who would put down my hometown, saying, 'Yubari is only Yubari after all.
But when I was working as a childcare worker in Kagoshima, I was greatly shocked by the Kagoshima people's pride in their town.

As a childcare worker, Ms. Sugawara often recalled her life in Yubari, which is the background of her current life, in her interactions with the children. Why don't people know so much about Yubari and how famous Yubari melons are?" He was so moved that he decided to return to Yubari after retiring from his job in Kagoshima.

After returning to Yubari, the first thing he wanted to know was " Why are Yubari melons considered so high class?
Mr. Sugawara says that while working as a "demen" (part-time farm worker) for one season as a Yubari melon grower, his various values changed dramatically.

The image I had of 'farming' from the outside was that it looked tough and hard," he says, "but when I actually went inside, I was impressed by the efficient and powerful work of the veteran farmers, the words of one of the part-time farmers, "Mocchan, farming is like gambling. I also learned about the history of the Yubari melon, and how the producers and their spouses seriously face the "difficulty of working with nature" along with the importance of temperature control, which is something Yubari can be proud of! I was also impressed by the price of Yubari melons. At the same time, I realized why Yubari melons are so expensive. That year, after learning that there is so much hard work behind the delicious Yubari melon, I sent Yubari melons along with a picture of a "cool hand of a producer doing his work" to people in Kagoshima, whom I had been indebted to.

This was a major event that changed Mr. Sugawara's impression of his hometown Yubari. After that, his perspective on Yubari's long history and people's thoughts about Yubari broadened, and he became interested in Yubari.

He said, "Somehow, I had this sad feeling that people were saying they hated the hometown I had, and I didn't like that. At the same time, I was thinking that it would be nice if I could do something to change people's images of me like that. "

Having a great interest in design and clothing, Mr. Sugawara left Yubari once again, went to school to study design professionally, and came back to Yubari again.

Opening up hand-printed T-shirts to the outside world

He says that he has developed relationships with many people while living in Yubari, and that he has been told by many people, "I'm going to do this for 10 years.

Many people tell me, "You should try it for 10 years anyway; it will definitely be more interesting if it continues for 10 years. I also intend to eventually return to childcare, and I am considering continuing to make T-shirts while balancing both.
I would also like more people to experience "silkscreening.

He would like to make preparations so that he can take over the silk-screening business, not only for visitors to experience it, but also for his own work.

I am currently renting a space in an abandoned school that is managed by a general incorporated association, Laplace, as a workshop. In the future, I would like to make it into a place where I can work with Laplus, which is working hard to create a community centered on welfare services for people with disabilities. I've been doing this for four years, and the more I do it, the more I realize how deep it is, so it's something I'd like to do after I learn a little more about it.

And his feelings toward Yubari, which he used to hate, have also changed dramatically.

Recently, I often think that I like Yubari very much. And I really think that nature is a fascinating environment where no two views are the same.

The view from the workshop

We will be keeping a close eye on Mr. Sugawara, who acts on the spur of the moment and is passionate about Yubari. mone house's activities and products are updated on Instagram and on its website, so be sure to check them out!
Also, the T-shirts are on display at the Yubari City Furusato Tax Payment, so be sure to check them out!