Nigo

Tomoaki Nagao, known as Nigo, is the designer and creative director of Human Made and artistic director of Kenzo. In November 2025, Human Made Inc. completed an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market. In June 2026, the company agreed to acquire Undercover.

Born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, in 1970, Nigo studied fashion editing at Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College between 1989 and 1991, where he met classmate Jun Takahashi. In April 1993, the pair co-founded the Ura-Harajuku concept boutique Nowhere. Later that year, Nigo founded the streetwear label A Bathing Ape (BAPE), operating out of the store's back room.

Nigo introduced the BAPESTA sneaker in 2002 and co-founded streetwear apparel labels Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream with Pharrell Williams in 2003. He launched Human Made in 2010 and sold a 90.27 percent controlling interest in Nowhere Co. to Hong Kong retail group I.T for 21.85 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.8 million) in 2011, stepping down from BAPE in 2013. That year, he became creative director of Uniqlo's UT graphic T-shirt line. In 2016, he established Otsumo Co., Ltd. behind Human Made. He co-designed two LV² capsules with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton across 2020 and 2021, and launched a multi-year partnership with Nike in 2024.

In September 2021, LVMH appointed Nigo artistic director of Kenzo, making him the first Japanese designer to helm the house since Kenzo Takada; he presented his debut runway collection in January 2022. He received the Style Award at the MTV Asia Awards in 2005 and was named Fashion Designer of the Year at the GQ Japan Men of the Year Awards in 2020.