Share happiness and make your friends' dreams come true by snowboarding

Taiga is one of the members of Lehmans who is both an office worker and a snowboarder. How has he lived so far? And why did you decide to launch Lehmans? At the core of this was ``love for one's friends.''

◆Canada changed the common sense of snowboarding

Taiga first encountered snowboarding when he was in elementary school on a ski trip with his childhood friend and his family. From then on, I fell in love with snowboarding and would go to the slopes several times a year, but it wasn't until I was in college that I became obsessed with snowboarding to the point that I wanted to dedicate my life to it.

When I entered college, I got a driver's license and was able to organize my schedule more flexibly, and with the money I earned from my part-time job, I was able to go snowboarding whenever I wanted. As he frequently went snowboarding, he started making friends locally. This is now Lehmans.

One of them, Kohey, went on a working holiday to Banff, Canada, after getting to know Taiga. Taiga also flew to Canada to go snowboarding with Kohey, but while there he experienced an event that changed his values.

``The Japanese man I met in Canada was a 40-year-old man who runs a local travel business.It was really cool to see him climbing the Canadian Rockies in alpine style.

While staying in Canada, I got a feel for the lifestyle unique to people living in Snowtown. Snowboarding naturally blended into my life. I didn't try to make snowboarding my main focus, but I used to snowboard every morning just like brushing my teeth.

Up until that point, I had been traveling several hours from Tokyo to the mountains to snowboard, so the way he balanced his life with work was shocking. ”

The image of people living with snowboarding on a natural scale different from that of Japan was dynamic to the great rivers of the time.

◆ The move to Numata led to the establishment of Lehmans

The purpose of launching Lehmans was not to sell snowboards. The idea was to use the experience of riding dozens of snowboards to create a snowboard for people to enjoy.

It was last November that I put my desire to make snowboarding into a part of my life into action. Due to the spread of the coronavirus, Yahoo! JAPAN, where I was working at the time, adopted full remote work, so I no longer had the opportunity to come to work, and the contract at the house I had been sharing with a colleague for several years had just come to an end.

He decided to move to Numata City, Gunma Prefecture, where there are many ski slopes in the area. I head to the slopes at 7am and ride my snowboard for about 2 hours. After work, I would go to night games from 8pm to 12pm. This experience led to a change in my values.

While snowboarding every day, I met local snowboarders and discovered a Japanese snowboard brand I had never heard of before.

"There were people in Gunma who were making their own wax, and people in Shinshu were carving their own boards."

When I learned about the existence of these people, I felt like I wanted to try making snowboards myself. Snowboarding started to become a part of my life, and my desire to try my own snowboarding grew stronger.

I contacted the factory directly and found a factory in China that undertakes contract manufacturing of snowboards. At that time, I was intent on making the board I wanted to ride, but one day I thought to myself, ``If only other snowboarders could ride the board that I thought was the best, everyone would be happy.'' Isn't that so?'' I thought.

Because we manufacture them D2C, we are able to offer quality snowboards that would normally cost over 100,000 yen at a price range of about one third. Taiga says he wants people to get a high-quality snowboard at an affordable price, and use the money they save to take more trips to the slopes.

◆ Lehmans' dream is to "make the dreams of his friends come true"

The proceeds from Lehmans will be used to help Lehmans members make their dreams come true.

“By selling snowboards, we not only deliver happiness to the people who buy them, but we also use the proceeds to share happiness with the Lehmans members.Furthermore, through the activities of these members, happiness spreads to other people. If we continue to do so, I believe we can create a world that surpasses the world we have now.”

Taiga explains why he thought so.

``Being part of the Happiness Hub is the happiest thing of all. Above all, I am able to return the profits to the members because I work as a salaried worker, and the income I earn for a living is the reason why I am able to return the profits to the members.'' Because the source is secured.”

After retiring from Yahoo! JAPAN, Taiga established a Korean/Taiwan subsidiary at a venture company that operated a platform for direct trading of green coffee beans, and was in charge of the Asian market. The idea of ​​sharing happiness also applies to office workers.

“Our mission is to expand the coffee market while solving the problems faced by coffee producers and roasters around the world.

Many intermediaries intervene before specialty coffee reaches consumers. The decline in coffee plantations around the world is a serious problem, as consumers are paying high prices for coffee, but producers are not being fully compensated.

By reducing this disparity through direct trade, producers receive greater returns and consumers can more easily enjoy high-quality coffee. ”

Now, after launching, the business has started to take off. It seems he has decided to take on a new challenge.

He will leave his position as a management member of a coffee venture company and join Mercari in March 2022 to promote the reuse of things around the world.
He continues to take on further leaps and challenges as an office worker.

◆ Design a rich holiday for office workers

``Designing a rich holiday for office workers'' is Lehmans' concept. Lehmans members, who work as office workers on weekdays, design their ideal holidays with their own hands and provide them as a service.

Since office workers have limited time to devote to "playing", the idea is to have a sophisticated holiday.

“Unlike local snowboarders who are close to the mountains, office workers working in cities can only come to the slopes two days a week no matter how hard they try.Because they take their precious days off to visit the mountains, they are able to ski every single day. I want them to skate with great care for the book,” says Taiga.

In addition, Lehmans is particular about making snowboards that are in harmony with nature, in order to provide office workers who normally work in the city with a sense of relaxation. Using natural materials like bamboo and poplar, the design allows you to feel the snow directly and ride while becoming one with nature.

◆ Better boards in the play experiment field

Up until now, even if there was a board you wanted to ride, you had to buy it, but now that you can make snowboards, you can request samples from the manufacturing factory and ride the board of your choice.

“Now that we have created an environment that is like a testing ground for fun where you can try out various snowboards, we want to pursue the best boards and share them with as many snowboarders as possible.”

In the future, they are also planning snowboard test ride events.

"When you're on the lift, scan the QR code printed on the board. One of the Lehmans members is a reggae musician named Pluto, and you can access his YouTube channel so you can listen to his music on the slopes. I made it work.”

Although the quality has not been refined, the result is a playful snowboard that features friends.

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■ Question and answer profile

Main instance: +27° -9°

Stance width: 51cm

Binding used: Flux XF

Boots used: Burton Ion

Home slope: White World Oze Iwakura

Favorite location: Waterside visible from a mountain peak (lake, ocean, etc.)

Happy moment: The moment I immersed myself in Mentsuuru powder

Special move: Direct descent

Snowboarder I respect: Mitsuhiko Yoshino

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■ Finally

 

We launched Lehmans Co., Ltd. in July 2021.

The registration will be in Numata City, Gunma Prefecture.

From this location with excellent access to the snowy mountains, we are able to conduct not only the Lehman Stick business but also

We plan to engage in a variety of businesses based on our corporate philosophy of ``designing holidays to the fullest.''

While sharing happy times with everyone with the Lehman Stick business as the core of Lehmans Co., Ltd.
We would like to expand our business so that we can share happiness through more points of contact.

I live in both Numata and Shonan, but I am also planning a project to provide a playground for everyone in Shonan.
I hope you look forward to it.

Of course, I am also working hard on my main job.

Lehmans Co., Ltd. "Designs holidays to the fullest"

Taiga Yamada

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[Interview/Written by: Kazuki Yasui]