Pictured: Two of the brand's signatures, South2 West8 Brush Parka (left) and South2 West8 Tenkara Parka

Being part of the stable of brands belonging to Nepenthes, the Tokyo-to-New York purveyor best known for Needles, Engineered Garments and its eclectic retail outposts, certainly helps. Founded as a store in 2002 in Sapporo, South2 West8’s first collection debuted in 2003. From the very outset, the brand has been inspired by Tenkara—the traditional Japanese fly fishing method. Nearly two decades on, South2 West8 has expanded from the streams of Northern Japan to the forests, offering a slew of gear for the outdoors, beyond just fishing clothing. Kaname Nagaoka is still helming the brand, albeit with the support of Nepenthes founders Keizo Shimizu and Daiki Suzuki.

That continuity has meant that—even as the brand has evolved and gained fans outside of first Sapporo and then the rest of Japan—South2 West8’s aesthetic has remained relatively consistent. It’s the aesthetic that sets South2 West8 apart because, let’s be honest, there’s no shortage of outdoors brands in the world—whether fashion-forward or not.

That aesthetic is one best described as playful utilitarianism. What, exactly does that mean? Consider a pastel tie-dye mesh Bush Parka, designed to offer protection from bugs without the discomfort of wearing a jacket in the middle of summer. It serves a purpose—but does so with panache. If you want to head out on an early morning trek bundled in warm, deep pile camouflage fleece, South2 West8 has you covered. If you need a waterproof jacket for your urban commute, South2 West8 has you covered—that same jacket happens to also be a vest, though, and has myriad pockets to hold bait and tackle, should you need it.

Every piece, painstakingly designed to actually be useful when camping or fishing, seems to come with a “but” attached to it. As if Nagaoka was saying, “personally, I’d wear this when fishing, but I understand if you don’t fish.” Or, as South2 West8 says, in Japanese, on its website: For actual fishing or town use.

This is a common trend with a handful of Japanese brands, from And Wander to Snow Peak to The North Face Purple Label. GO OUT, one of the seminal Japanese menswear publications, is devoted to these kinds of brands—brands that are very much the foundation of modern gorpcore.

In that sense, wasn’t it inevitable that South2 West8 would get its 15 minutes—or months, rather—of fame? Until recently, South2 West8 was both the obscure Japanese outdoors brand and the obscure Nepenthes brand. Fervent gorp-heads and Nepenthes supporters are both fans of the obscure, so it was inevitable that South2 West8 would slowly start seeping into the wardrobes of the most in-the-know heads—those who pride themselves on having garments nobody else even knows about.

Before January, 2020, I can’t remember seeing much—if any—South2 West8 at European fashion weeks. I had seen a piece or two at Pitti, where workwear is a bit more evergreen. This season, though, I snapped someone wearing a bright orange camouflage jacket on the first day of London Fashion Week. I knew then what’s become increasingly obvious as we’ve turned to the great outdoors: South2 West8 won’t be obscure by the end of 2020.