STORY&Co. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Taku Hosokawa), which runs the embroidery and mending shop PATCH&PLAY (pronounced "Patch and Play"), is opening a new location in the first-floor lobby of Tokyu Stay Shinjuku (3-7-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo). The Shinjuku shop pre-opens on Friday, September 18, 2026, and holds its grand opening on Tuesday, September 29, timed to the hotel's own renewal.
The Shinjuku location is built around bridging travelers with the neighborhood's makers and shops. While guests sew a memory of their trip onto a piece of clothing or a bag at a counter in the hotel lobby, patches themed around beloved Shinjuku stores also serve as an invitation to visit the shops and places behind them. The sewing machine at the counter is provided by Brother Sales, Ltd.
For its first collaboration, the shop has teamed up with DUG, the storied Shinjuku jazz cafe that closed after 65 years in June 2026, producing a limited run of original patches based on the logo of the cafe run by its founder, jazz photographer Hozumi Nakadaira. The patches go on sale in limited quantities starting September 18.
A Bridge Between Travelers and the Neighborhood
About half of the customers at PATCH&PLAY's Harajuku flagship come from overseas. At the same time, more and more visitors are coming in specifically to request sashiko, a traditional Japanese mending stitch, and other Japan-born repair techniques — a sign that the experience of remaking a piece of clothing "your own way" appeals across nationalities.
The Shinjuku shop adds another layer to that idea. Its counter sits along the path every guest walks through at check-in, and while helping customers choose a patch, staff ask what they like and where they'd like to go during their stay. In return, guests are offered patches themed around the streets of Shinjuku and Kabukicho and the shops that define them.
A patch works as a souvenir to take home on the spot, and also as an invitation to the neighborhood. The name of a shop that doesn't appear in any guidebook or map app — one that someone actually goes to — gets handed over in a hotel lobby. Creating that kind of connection between travelers and the local area is the idea behind the Shinjuku shop.
First Collaboration: The Storied Jazz Cafe DUG
Shinjuku's DUG traces back to the jazz cafe DIG, which opened in 1961, and was run by jazz photographer Hozumi Nakadaira, known for his portraits of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Loved by generations of jazz musicians and cultural figures, and known as a setting in Haruki Murakami's novels, the cafe closed on June 27, 2026, after 65 years, when the building it occupied was slated for demolition.
The listening bars now popular across the US and Europe trace their roots to Japan's jazz cafes, and Shinjuku was their home ground — DUG among its symbols. PATCH&PLAY chose it as the first shop to collaborate with, as a place it wants visitors to the neighborhood to know about.
| Item | Details | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Original patch sales | Patches based on DUG's logo, sold in limited quantities | From September 18 (Fri.) at the shop, while supplies last |
| Project information | Information on the "Hozumi Nakadaira: Jazz Memories and Records" project, which preserves photographs and footage left by Hozumi Nakadaira, on display in the shop | From September 18 (Fri.), on display in the shop |
PATCH&PLAY Shinjuku Overview
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Shop name | PATCH&PLAY Shinjuku |
| Address | Tokyu Stay Shinjuku 1F, 3-7-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (1-minute walk from Exit C3 of Shinjuku-sanchome Station, Toei Shinjuku Line / Tokyo Metro) |
| Pre-opening | Friday, September 18, 2026 |
| Grand opening | Tuesday, September 29, 2026 |
| Hours | Noon to 8:00 PM (September); 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM (planned, from October onward) |
| Phone | 080-4187-9218 |
| Services | Original patch sales, iron-on and sew-on application, name and initial embroidery, small repairs such as button sewing |
| Equipment partner | Brother Sales, Ltd. |
Full-scale alterations and remakes are handled at the Harajuku flagship store.
Equipment Partner: Brother Sales, Ltd.
The sewing machine at the Shinjuku counter is provided by Brother Sales, Ltd. Patches are sewn on and names embroidered right in front of customers, and the sound and motion of the machine at work is itself part of what draws passersby to stop.
The two companies' relationship began in 2021 with the launch of NewMake Labo, a creative studio for makers in Harajuku, Tokyo, and Brother Sales has supported NewMake and the PATCH&PLAY flagship store ever since. Building a sewing-centered maker community together laid the groundwork for the current shop's approach of demonstrating the craft to customers in person.
About PATCH&PLAY
PATCH&PLAY is a mending shop that opened in Harajuku, Tokyo, in November 2025 under the idea of bringing "the option not to throw it away" into everyday life. Alongside repairs, it offers more than 500 original patches, including designs by outside creators. In spring 2026 it rebranded, expanding its logo, concept, and services under the new idea "not restored to how it was, but restored to how you are," and launched new experiential services such as one-of-a-kind embroidery customization built around conversation with customers. Rather than treating clothes as disposable, PATCH&PLAY treats them as things to grow attached to over time, and aims to shift the relationship between people and their clothes from consumption to co-creation.
PATCH&PLAY is produced by NewMake, a creative community run by STORY&Co. that counts more than 1,600 creators among its members and around 60,000 social media followers. It has worked on upcycling projects with global brands such as Missoni, adidas, New Balance, and ASICS, and with apparel companies including Baycrew's and TSI, as well as production work tied to the Paris Olympics and the Osaka-Kansai Expo.
Since opening in November 2025, the Harajuku flagship has built a lineup of more than 500 patches with roughly 20 creators, collaborating with a new creator every month. It has been featured on Nippon TV's "Hirunandesu!," among other programs, and has taken part in pop-ups and events at the invitation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, PARCO, and Lumine Est.
PATCH&PLAY Harajuku flagship store
Address: Harajuku Belpia 104, 6-6-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Hours: Noon to 8:00 PM (irregular closures)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patchandplay_tokyo/
Comment from STORY&Co. Representative Director Taku Hosokawa (細川拓)
About half of the customers at the Harajuku flagship come from overseas. Many come specifically for Japan-born mending techniques like sashiko, sewing a motif they encountered on their trip onto their own clothes or bag on the spot, to take home. Things bought on a trip sometimes go unused once you're back home. But something you chose yourself and added to a piece you already own tends to stay in use.
A lot of the reviews we get aren't really about the finished patch — they're about the time spent choosing it and talking it through.
At the Shinjuku shop, we've added the neighborhood to that. The patches are modeled on places like DUG — shops that have been loved in this neighborhood for a long time. Choosing one becomes a way of learning about that shop, and a reason to visit it during your stay. A traveler's memory flows back into a local shop. A hotel lobby feels like the most natural place for that cycle to begin. Not restored to how it was, but restored to how you are — we want to bring that idea to clothes, and to how people encounter a neighborhood.
The Newly Renovated Tokyu Stay Shinjuku
Tokyu Stay Shinjuku, operated by Tokyu Resorts & Stays Co., Ltd., reopens on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, after a full renewal under the design concept "SANKADO SQUARE" — a hotel built like a plaza where people, the neighborhood, and culture meet. Its shared spaces draw on the culture of Shinjuku Sanchome, from cinema to coffee houses to variety theaters, and it includes a record lounge, Re:cord Lounge, for guests only.
