改善 – “continual improvement”

KAIZEN's mission is to build towards a society of cultural diversity based on mutual understanding and respect earned by participation. KAIZEN does this by illuminating different Aspects of Asia's languages, social structures, and politics to new audiences.

"The goal is to break cultural barriers."

At the heart of our apparel is the need to promote a culture of positive, continuous change made possible through the collaboration of ideas and mutual understanding by participation opposed to exclusion or segregation. Taking a cue from how older Asian clothing manufacturers mark their clothing, each item is branded on its top back with KAIZEN’s circular logo.
This logo is a combination of the characters 改 and 善, “kaizen”. In Chinese these characters would be read as “Gai shan”, or “good change”. Together, they also form the Japanese phrase “continual improvement”. This project is a natural result from Amsterdam’s energetic and multicultural environment.

KAIZEN tells a story about how society can evolve. KAIZEN utilizes a lack of understanding between languages, and other hidden cultural signs to create a playful dialogue that creates opportunities for understanding. The goal is to reduce the idea of ‘them’ and ‘you’ – and promote us.