“Kushitani dates back to 1947 when, arising from the ashes of postwar Japan, Toshiko Kushitani founded a women’s leather garment store in his home town of Hamamatsu. From 1953 onwards Kushitani-san began satisfying the requests of his friends working for the local bike manufacturers to make special protective clothing for them to wear in testing the bikes, as well as to go racing once a year in the Mount Asama dirt-track race around a semi-active volcano. 

These quite primitive garments were the first step along a path of deeper involvement in motorcycling and racing. When Toshiko died, his son Hisashi Kushitani took control of the company in 1990 and still today he still has the support in running the company from his mother – a spry, sharp, eighty-something who played a big part in the development of the company, because she concentrated on the high standard of design and materials.”