DELTAone Brings Cult Harajuku Jewellery Brand goro’s to Singapore
The second-hand reseller provides authentication and consultation services to preserve the fascinating heritage of Goro Takahashi.
The goro’s retail experience is the stuff of legend. Customers don’t simply show up at the store in Harajuku and pick out the pieces they want to buy. Instead, they have to undergo the trial of first queuing for a lottery in the morning, which determines their place in another line to enter the store in the afternoon. The wait can last for hours. Once inside, staff will offer a particular piece for purchase; there is absolutely no notion of buying power here. It’s humbling, and loyalists wouldn’t have it any other way. You have to earn your goro’s pieces, that’s what gives them their mythical quality.
Named after founder Goro Takahashi, goro’s is an accessories brand selling Native American-inspired pendants and rings, as well as other leather accompaniments. Everything is designed in-house, handcrafted in Japan and sold exclusively at the Tokyo store, which has become a place of pilgrimage for rock stars, fashion designers and stylish celebrities. Despite the global fan base, Takahashi and the family members who took over after his passing in 2013 never considered expanding, choosing to preserve his legacy and uncompromising standards above everything else.
But scarcity breeds copycats and imitators, which is where DELTAone comes in. The foremost trusted second-hand reseller of goro’s provides an important bulwark against the tide of counterfeits thanks to their rigorous authentication process. With stores in Hong Kong and Japan, they now set their sights on Singapore to spread the gospel of goro’s. L’OFFICIEL HOMMES chats with COO Yuji Yoshida to learn more about what they do.
Why did you decide to open a store in Singapore?
The thing with goro’s is that there are a lot of imitation pieces out there. And for people living outside of Hong Kong or Japan, it is harder for them to see the actual jewellery in person. Buying online has its risks as well. We believe Singapore would be the right place to expand because we saw a lot of Singaporean customers visiting our Hong Kong and Japan stores, but it was delayed due to the pandemic. Our model at DELTAone is to share the goro’s passion across the world, so we’re definitely planning other international expansions in the future.
What are the most sought after goro’s pieces?
The iconic pieces would be the eagle or the feather, especially in Hong Kong, Singapore and neighbouring countries in the region. The feather pendant is popular because it’s worn by a lot of celebrities, including Takuya Kimura from Japan, Shawn Yue from Hong Kong, and even JJ Lin from Singapore. Internationally, there’s also Ed Sheeran and John Mayer who are fans. There are different ways of mixing and matching with goro’s, so at DELTAone we provide consultations to find the perfect styles for you. And goro’s is not a one-time purchase but a journey, so we will help you find additional pieces as you go along.
When it comes to goro’s feathers, most people don’t know the types and variations. Are there any simple ways to tell if a product is genuine or an imitation?
At DELTAone, we will usually go through the entire authentication process since there are a lot of counterfeit items right now. Just last week a customer came by our store and I personally did the inspection for them. Unfortunately, 90% of the pieces were fake, and people have spent over $10,000 on them!
That said, there is a standard size range for goro’s feathers, which we measure from particular points. There are also what we call “initial scratches” — these are marks intentionally placed at the time of production as part of the design. For example, there’s a small scratch on the tips of left-facing feathers. Also, there’s the “eagle stamp” on the back, which is a small dot right in the middle. All goro’s feathers must have this.
Apart from that, we also look into the texture and details. Another important distinction is New Design and Old Design, because of the introduction of chains during 2004. So we will study these details, and only buy back products we believe are 100%. It’s not like Rolex where there’s a serial number; with goro’s, there’s none. That’s why you don’t see a lot of resellers in the market. At DELTAone, we’ve been doing this for 10 years, purely specialising in goro’s.
What is a good starting point for beginners?
The first thing is to decide between a leather cord or chain setup. The leather cord is simpler; you can pair it with one pendant and attach red beads on each side to form a three by three setup. I’d recommend going with the 'gold top' feather, because it has a balance of both metals. The concept of goro’s is yin and yang, light and darkness. Here, the silver part will oxidise and tarnish over time while the gold remains shiny, which makes a nice contrast.
What are Special Made items?
Besides the standard pieces sold at the official store, from time to time there are special items made for customers. These can be custom pieces or some of the more complex pendants, for example the eagle pendant. If you’re familiar with the process at the official store, it would take around three to five years of regular visits and purchasing of smaller items before the staff would offer you the eagle pendant. So we define these exclusive or difficult to acquire pieces as Special Made.
What kind of styles work well with goro’s?
This one’s subjective. I believe goro’s pieces can match with any style, especially those that are more trendy. But at the same time, it looks just as good with a plain t-shirt. In Singapore, lots of people prefer to dress lighter because of the hot weather, but such outfits actually pair better with goro’s. It doesn’t go well will loud or busy designs. And since we’re goro’s consultants at DELTAone, we can advise people on the pieces to match their individual style.
The DELTAone retail store is located at 333A Orchard Road, 02-21 Mandarin Gallery, Singapore 238897.
