Pink House

Pink House

Founded	1973
Country	Japan
No. of locations	44
Founder(s)	Kaneko Isao
Website	website
Webshop	webshop
Twitter	pinkhouse_staff
Blog	blog
Instagram	pinkhouse_press
Weibo	1006067243323531
Current status	Active
Lolibrary Link

Pink House (ピンクハウス) is a Japanese brand established in 1973 which was part of the prairie revival movement in women's fashion in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Concept

The Pink House brand concept is:

人を愛し、生活を愛し、人生を愛するすべての女性に、ピンクハウスは自分らしい時間を約束します。 To all women with a love for others and a love for life, Pink House promises a time designed for you.

Sub-Labels

INGEBORG

INGEBORG was established in 1982, with a primary launch in Tokyo around Christmas of that year, and is aimed at adult women in their 30s and 40s. In an interview in An An 357 when the brand launched, Kaneko Isao explained the launch thusly:

"Up until now, I've always put in a few mature things in shows, but when it comes to Pink House, cuteness comes first, and that image tends to escalate more and more. We decided to clearly divide the items for people into separate brands. Pink House is very colorful, so this one has no color, and the focus is on black and white monotones."

Karl Helmut

Baby Pink House

Little Pink House

PH Blue / Pink House Basic

The brand concept was: "A brand for mature women who live a relaxed life valuing time, air and nature."

It was renamed to Pink House Basic in 2015. The label was discontinued in 2017.

Toi et Bonbon

The brand concept was: "I want to touch your eyes, touch your hands, wear it on your body and be by your heart. May we meet in a dream.. let's meet in a dream." This sub-label was launched in 2013 and discontinued in late 2015. The shop category in the online shop turned into the Pink House Chelsea category in early 2016.

Pink House Chelsea

Launched in early 2016. In 2018 they did a collab with Isetan Girl and LARME called 'Pink House Chelsea Diner'. The line eventually stopped releasing new items and by late 2020, the only items left were 80% off items in the outlet clearance that were over a year old.

Pink House Brocante

Production

Corsages

Corsages are made by hand at Atelier Senka. As of 2022, they had been made there for 40 years. The materials are hand-dyed, and the flower petals are cut and shaped with hot tools, which is a traditional way of making millinery flowers. This leads to variations in color and shape from flower to flower. They also make faux fruit.

As part of the Timeless Pink House 50th anniversary museum popup, they put some of their production samples and patterns on display.

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History

This section is incomplete, you can help it by adding information about: History 1983-2022

Pink House was officially founded by Kaneko Isao in 1973, however Kaneko Isao has said in interviews that Pink House actually started in 1971 under NICOLE and moved to BIGI group eight years later. Pink House was initially aimed at teens and young women. In 1990 Kaneko Isao Co., Ltd. was established. In January 1994, Kaneko Isao left Pink House Co., Ltd. and became independent.

In 1982 INGEBORG was founded, aimed at adult women.

In volume 110 of Croissant in 1982 in the article "A store where you can buy adult clothes recommended by Hisako Sunohara", stylist Hisako Sunohara describes the Pink House Shibuya Parco store:

Pink House Shibuya Parco, 1982

"[...] she had been looking for clothes for a photo shoot that could be worn by both her 20-something daughter and her mother. At that time, the first thing that came to my mind was this boutique. You can find clothes that look good in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or even grandmas in their 60s. Perhaps because of this, the store is a mix of young and old, but the store manager, Mr. Takahashi, says, 'No, no, there are men, too.' It seems that men also buy sweaters and shoes without hesitation."

"They have few pieces in stock: 2-3 pieces. I don't think you could get 5 of the same thing at a time. I never know if I should visit frequently, or get along with the staff to get the information quickly. It seems that there are people who keep their credit cards on file there."

In March of 1983, in a reader survey of 1,527 readers of An An, the top response for "What kind of clothes do you want this spring" was a Pink House style dress. To which the designer responded "I'm scared that it will sell more than I imagined."

In 2021 as part of their multi-year 50th anniversary celebration, Pink House launched Timeless Pink House, a virtual reality space that acted as a museum displaying the historical archive of the brand, and also a way for the brand to display special 50th anniversary items. They also announced several collaborations including a collaboration with fashion brand little sunny bite by YOPPY, and a custom print shoe collaboration with shoe brand Converse. Bother were available via a special shopping experience in the Timeless Pink House VR world.

As of 2022, the company profile reports capital of 40 million yen.

Isao Kaneko, the owner of the boutique Pink House, and his wife Yuri Tachikawa. Special feature of the story (話の特集) December 1972 issue

Notable Figures

Kaneko Isao - Founder / Designer

Ayumi Ohashi (大橋歩さん) - Illustrator

Ayumi Ohashi worked with Kaneko Isao at Heibon Punch, where Ayumi Ohashi did the covers of the magazines. Ayumi Ohashi went on to do illustration work for Pink House.

Mika Takagi (高木三佳さん) - Stylist

Characters & Design Motifs

This section is incomplete, you can help it by adding information about: Mascots, common/original design elements

Locations/Sales Model

This section is incomplete, you can help it by adding information about: shop locations

Shop List

Directly Managed Shops

Shop	Country	Address	Status	Socials
Store 1	Country 1	Test Address 1	Test Status 1	Test Socials 1
Store 2	Country 2	Test Address 2	Test Status 2	Test Socials 2
Store 3	Country 3	Test Address 3	Test Status 3	Test Socials 3

External Distributors

Shop	Country	Address	Status	Socials
Store 1	Country 1	Test Address 1	Test Status 1	Test Socials 1
Store 2	Country 2	Test Address 2	Test Status 2	Test Socials 2
Store 3	Country 3	Test Address 3	Test Status 3	Test Socials 3

Tips for Identifying Pieces

As always, we recommend searching Lolibrary first both by item number and by any relevant tags/features. If neither of these bring up the item, the following are some tips for researching the mystery item, though you are always welcome to ask for assistance in the Lolibrary Discord, or the EGL Research Center or What is that dress? Facebook groups as well.

Pink House published robust photobook catalogs which typically have sheets with item names and prices. Currently, they have catalogs from 2015-present on their site in digital format. The year of a piece can often be gleaned from the item number, which is typically on the wash tag even for pieces from the 1990s.

Item Numbers

Short Item Numbers

Item numbers from before 1988 are very short, for example, one jacket listed for sale on Club Candy which is from 1987 had an item number of 31PJ-1.

Item Numbers Starting with P

Items from 1988-2014 start with P01, P11, or P10 followed by a year marker. These year markers are repeated, so other clues must be used to firmly date the item. Items from the winter collection will have the item number of the lower year. So A/W 1992/1993 will have a 1992 item number. PH Blue item numbers occasionally have a dash in them.

First 4 Digits	Year(s)	Brand	Notes
P010	1990, 2000, 2010	Pink House, PH Blue (2010)
P011	1991, 2001, 2011	Pink House, PH Blue (2011)	Items from 1991 have a silky texture to the tag, items from 2001 have a matte/papery texture to the tag
P012	1992, 2002, 2012	Pink House, PH Blue (2012)
P013	1993, 2003, 2013	Pink House, PH Blue (2013)
P014	1994, 2004, 2014	Pink House, PH Blue (2014)	Items from 1994 have 'messy' looking printing with some parts being not in a perfect line, or different sizes, or some parts might be printed with darker ink. Tags on items from 2004 look much more factory printed. Items with both a P014 an A214 item number are always from 2014.
P015	1995, 2005	Pink House	Items from 1995 have fairly simple wash tags. Item number, material, maybe a size, a button and then some text that usually wraps onto the back. Items from 2005 have much more info like washing symbols, etc all on the front of the tag.
P016	1996, 2006	Pink House
P017	1997, 2007	Pink House
P018	1988, 1998, 2008	Pink House, PH Blue	Items from 1988 have a very silky tag with minimal information.
P019	1989, 1999, 2009	Pink House	Items from 2009 have a matte woven fabric tag with a small font, very polished/formal looking printing. Items from 1999 have a matte almost papery texture tag with printing that tends to look like it was xeroxed. Items from 1989 have a very silky tag with minimal information.
P028	1988, 1998, 2008	Ingeborg
P038	1988, 2008	Karl Helmut	Theoretically could also be 1998 based on the pattern for other lines, but currently unconfirmed.
P108	1998	Pink House, Karl Helmut
P118	1998	Pink House
P128	1998	Karl Helmut
P186	2006	PH Blue
P187	2007	PH Blue
P188	2008	PH Blue
P189	2009	PH Blue

After the year marker is a single character or two, who's meaning is currently unknown, followed by a two letter code for item type.

Type Code	Item Type
FA	OP
FB	Blouse
FS	Skirt / Tabard

Next is a two number code which is most likely sequential followed sometimes by a single letter suffix. A 'B' suffix is common in the 90s, the meaning of which is currently unknown. PH blue items from 2010 and later often have a P suffix in the last position.

Item Numbers Starting with A

Modern item numbers start with an A, starting in 2014.

First 4 Digits	Year(s)	Brand	Notes
A214	2014	Pink House	Some 2014 items have both a P and an A item number. The item number will be the same except for the first 2 digits which will be A2 or P0.
A215	2015	Pink House, PH Blue
A216	2016	Pink House
A217	2017	Pink House, PH Blue, Pink House Chelsea
A218	2018	Pink House, PH Blue
A219	2019	Pink House
A210	2020	Pink House
A211	2021	Pink House	Most items don't have item numbers, but instead have a series of numbers and letters that match no other pattern and are at the top of a long, mostly blank tag. These letters and numbers are under the overlock stitching that holds the tag on and can be hard to read.
A212	2022	Pink House
A213	2023	Pink House

Gallery

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  Pink House x Misako collaboration

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  Pink House 50th Anniversary

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  Pink House '93 Spring

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  PH Daikanyama '91-'95

External links

• Timeless Pink House VR – Online VR museum and anniversary event space