History

 

For decades, we’ve been involved in Japanese and American automotive culture—from motorsports and brand development to media, driver management and apparel. We have had the opportunity to work with many respected companies and brands from Japan, including C-West, WELD, WORKS, BRIDE, JUN, OPTION, and many others.

We have also played an active role in helping Japanese automotive products and brands enter and establish themselves in the U.S. market. Our work has included introducing products to American enthusiasts, developing relationships, promoting brands, and helping Japanese companies better understand and reach the U.S. automotive market.

In addition to working with manufacturers and brands, we have managed and represented drivers from both Japan and the United States. Our involvement included sponsorship acquisition, sponsor relations, event coordination, promotion, and overall driver management. One of the notable drivers we worked with was Tarzan Yamada, a well-known figure in Japanese motorsports and tuning culture.

The Saisoku Series and Automotive Media

Another important part of our history has been documenting and sharing Japan's automotive lifestyle with enthusiasts outside Japan.

Over many years, we produced automotive lifestyle videos that gave viewers an inside look at a side of Japanese car culture that was rarely seen in the United States at the time. Rather than focusing only on the cars, our productions captured the complete experience—the drivers, tuning shops, builders, racing, street culture, personalities, events, and the people behind Japan's performance automotive scene.

One of our most notable productions was the Saisoku series.

The goal of Saisoku was to bring viewers closer to the real Japanese automotive lifestyle and give enthusiasts in the United States and around the world a firsthand look at the culture that was influencing performance cars, tuning, drifting, racing, and automotive style worldwide.

We were fortunate to have access to many of the people, shops, drivers, and companies that helped define that era of Japanese automotive culture. That access allowed us to produce content that went beyond traditional automotive videos and showed the personalities, relationships, and lifestyle surrounding the cars.

Our involvement in automotive media also extended into "The early years of Formula Drift". When Formula Drift first launched, we were the only company authorized to videotape the events and commercially sell the footage. This gave us a unique role in documenting the beginning of professional drifting in the United States and helping bring the action, drivers, and emerging drift culture to a wider audience.

That early involvement with Formula Drift, together with the Saisoku series, became an important part of our efforts to connect Japanese and American automotive culture through media.

Team TAISAN and Ricky Chiba

An important part of our history in Japan was our relationship with Yasutsune “Ricky” Chiba of Team TAISAN.

Mr. Chiba went out of his way to help us during our time in Japan and was instrumental in helping us build relationships, make connections, and pursue our goals within the Japanese automotive and motorsports industry.

His friendship, support, and willingness to open doors for us meant a great deal. We will always appreciate the role Mr. Chiba played in helping us realize our goals in Japan.

Through our relationships with manufacturers, drivers, teams, tuning shops, media, and individuals throughout the industry, we have been fortunate to spend many years helping connect the Japanese and American automotive and motorsports communities.

From introducing Japanese products to the U.S. market, to managing drivers and sponsorships, to producing the Saisoku series and documenting the early years of Formula Drift, our history has always been closely connected to the people and culture that helped shape modern automotive enthusiasm.

Apparel and Lifestyle

After establishing the How Fast? brand, apparel quickly became an important part of our business and identity.

Our clothing was rooted in the same automotive culture we had been involved with for years—Japanese tuning, racing, drifting, and the lifestyle surrounding it. Rather than treating apparel as simple merchandise, we developed How Fast? as a true automotive lifestyle brand.

At its peak, How Fast? was selling "approximately 27,000 shirts per year", reflecting the strong following the brand had developed within the automotive enthusiast community.

The apparel side of the business allowed us to take the culture, relationships, and experiences we had built through motorsports and media and turn them into something enthusiasts could be part of every day.

Today, that same connection to automotive culture continues to influence our apparel and the direction of the brand.