Tokyo, Japan — Founded 2004

Brand Profile

RATS

Mano Katsutada founded RATS in 2004, but the brand's origins reach back two decades further — to the Harajuku of the 1980s and a set of friendships that would shape Japanese street culture for a generation.

RATS is streetwear in the truest sense: born from a scene, not a business plan. The brand motto is Crawl forward to live and survive. It is an accurate description of how Mano has always worked.

+ Harajuku, 1980s

The Rockabilly kids of Harajuku were not nostalgic for America. They were building something from the parts they had selected likethe music, the silhouettes, the attitud and making it distinctly their own. Mano was part of this world from an early age, drawn into a scene that took authenticity seriously and performed it physically, through clothing, dancing, and posture.

His crew was The Gamblers. Their base was Bar Leon, a small bar in Harajuku that functioned less as a drinking spot and more as a headquarters. It was a place where style, music, and conversation overlapped and where regulars did not drift. The relationships formed there did not dissolve when the 1980s ended. They persisted, becoming the foundation for everything that followed.

By the early 1990s, that same geography had been reshaped. The backstreets behind Harajuku's main commercial strip known as Urahara had become the centre of a second cultural moment, this one less anchored to a specific historical reference and more interested in building something forward-looking. The designers who emerged from there would define Japanese streetwear for the next three decades.

Mano Katsutada

+ The Urahara Circle

Mano was embedded in the Urahara network. His bar, Hide and Seek, became the informal meeting point for several of the key figures: Jun Takahashi, who was building Undercover; Shinsuke Takizawa, who would found Neighborhood; Nigo, who was developing A Bathing Ape; Hiroshi Fujiwara, working on Goodenough. These were not distant acquaintances. They were regulars.

The advice that prompted RATS came from Tetsu Nishiyama of WTAPS, another fixture of the scene. He told Mano, simply, to start making things. To stop being only the person at the centre of the conversation and become the person creating the objects of it.

In 2004, Mano did exactly that. RATS was not conceived as a brand in the marketing sense, it was the natural extension of a man who had spent twenty years at the intersection of fashion, music, motorcycles, and craft, surrounded by people building things that mattered. The name itself carries the motto: Crawl forward to live and survive.

RATS Moleskin Shirt

+ What RATS Makes

RATS produces a relatively small seasonal range, typically built around shirts, trousers, knitwear, outerwear, and accessories. The selection of fabrics is the clearest expression of the brand's priorities.

Moleskin

Several pieces in the RATS range are made from moleskin produced by Brisbane Moss, a British textile mill with roots in the nineteenth century. Brisbane Moss moleskin is a tightly woven cotton fabric, finished with a characteristic sheared surface. It has dense, smooth, and durable across long use. It is the kind of fabric that improves with wear, developing a softened character that loosely woven alternatives cannot replicate.

The moleskin B.D. shirts use this cloth as the base for a relaxed, unstructured design appropriate for most seasons in a temperate climate, and the kind of garment that does not announce itself but does not disappear either.

Sashiko Dobby

The sashiko shirt takes its name from a traditional Japanese reinforcement technique, close running stitches, typically worked in horizontal rows or geometric patterns, originally used to thicken fabric and extend the life of work garments. RATS does not use literal sashiko stitching in this piece; instead, the fabric is a dobby-woven rayon that carries a sashiko-inspired surface texture, creating the visual impression of the stitch pattern within the cloth itself. One hundred per cent rayon, the shirt drapes and moves differently from the cotton moleskin pieces. It's lighter, more fluid, with a distinct handle that makes it a different proposition for different temperatures or occasions.

RATS Sashiko Dobby Shirt

Jolly Roger — Tokyo

+ Jolly Roger and What It Represents

RATS opened its Jolly Roger store in Tokyo in 2011. The shop is not a conventional retail space. Alongside clothing, it holds motorcycles, surfboards, musical instruments, and martial arts memorabilia. All the accumulated interests of Mano and the people around him. Jolly Roger functions as a museum of sensibility as much as a place to buy things.

The brand motto "Crawl forward to live and survive" is unglamorous by design. It describes persistence without triumph, movement without speed, survival without certainty. For a brand that grew out of Japanese street culture, where authenticity was the only real currency, the motto is a statement of intent.

Jolly Roger — Tokyo

Rats

50 items

Shirts

50 items

Pants, Slacks & Trousers

50 items

Knitwear & Sweatshirts

26 items

Jackets & Outerwear

50 items

Accessories

24 items

+ Buying and Owning RATS

RATS is not available widely. The design of that scarcity is intentional. Each season produces a range that is coherent in its intentions, limited in its quantities, and directed at people who have thought carefully about what they own.

Buying a RATS shirt or pair of trousers is not the beginning of a brand relationship in the conventional marketing sense. It is more likely the continuation of a conversationn about Japanese manufacturing, about fabric, about the kind of clothing that repays attention over time. The moleskin pieces, in particular, are worth wearing across the seasons rather than saving. The cloth is meant to be used.

If a garment needs hemming, repair, or alteration, URAHARA's denim and alteration service handles chain-stitch hemming and general repairs. It is the natural extension of buying something worth looking after.

+ Frequently Asked Questions

RATS is designed and produced in Japan. The brand was founded by Mano Katsutada in Tokyo in 2004 and continues to operate from there. All garments are made in Japan.

Brisbane Moss is a British textile mill with roots in the nineteenth century, based in Yorkshire. Their moleskin is a tightly woven cotton fabric with a sheared surface finish — dense, smooth on one side, and highly durable. It is among the most respected moleskin producers working today, and the cloth used in the RATS moleskin B.D. shirts and work trousers. The fabric softens and develops character with prolonged wear rather than degrading.

The RATS sashiko shirt is 100% rayon with a dobby weave that creates a sashiko-inspired surface texture. Traditional sashiko is a Japanese stitching technique using dense running stitches to reinforce cloth — originally a workwear construction method. In the RATS shirt, that visual pattern is woven into the fabric structure rather than stitched on top. The rayon construction gives the shirt a lighter, more fluid drape compared to the cotton moleskin pieces.

RATS follows Japanese sizing conventions. Shirts typically offer a relaxed Japanese fit — slightly shorter in body length with a more structured shoulder than a comparable Western relaxed shirt. Trousers vary by style. We recommend checking the specific measurements listed on each product page. If you are between sizes or unsure, contact us and we will advise based on the specific garment.

Turn the garment inside out and wash cold, either by hand or on a gentle machine cycle. Avoid tumble drying — lay flat or hang to air-dry away from direct heat or sunlight. The sheared surface of the moleskin can be refreshed with a soft brush if it begins to look compressed. Iron on a low setting if needed. Moleskin is a durable cloth that does not require fragile handling, but consistent care will extend its life significantly.

Rayon requires more careful handling than cotton. Hand wash cold or use the most delicate machine cycle available. Do not wring or twist the fabric — rayon can stretch or distort when wet. Lay flat to dry or hang carefully. Iron on a low to medium setting while slightly damp for best results. Dry cleaning is also suitable if preferred. Keep rayon away from high heat in any form.

RATS sits at the intersection of both traditions without being defined by either. Mano Katsutada came out of the Harajuku street scene of the 1980s and 1990s, and the brand carries that cultural foundation throughout. But the garments — moleskin B.D. shirts, work trousers, sashiko fabrics — draw clearly from workwear construction and material traditions. The result is clothing that wears like workwear but carries the sensibility of a street culture brand with genuine roots.

Jolly Roger is the RATS flagship store, opened in Tokyo in 2011. It is not a conventional clothing shop. Alongside garments, the space houses motorcycles, surfboards, musical instruments, and martial arts memorabilia — the personal interests of Mano and his circle. The store functions as an extension of the brand's philosophy: objects selected for their own integrity, not arranged for commercial coherence.

Yes. URAHARA offers a repair and alteration service that includes chain-stitch hemming and general garment repairs. Moleskin trousers and shirts can be hemmed, taken in, or repaired as needed. For rayon pieces, we recommend discussing the specific alteration with us before proceeding. Contact us with the details of what you need and we will advise on the best approach.