BEAMS at 50 in Taipei: SSZ, EXPEDITION CLUB and outdoor archives turn collecting into everyday culture

BEAMS held its 50th Market Life Exhibition at Warehouse No. 1, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, on October 17–18, 2026. The event has ended. Markets, collections, limited items and conversations brought long-standing outdoor, skateboarding and everyday interests into one space.

Cover image: BEAMS

I AM BEAMS, put the interests of the characters before the brand

The project uses characters who have long been involved in the brand, such as Kaneko Shigeru and Kato Tadayuki, as the portal to show how purchasing work is connected with collections, sports and daily life. Brand here is not just the sum of many products, but also includes how people continue to identify interesting objects.

When looking at this type of anniversary planning, you can first ask why the exhibits were selected, what the selector originally cared about, and then return to the product itself. When the background is seen, a piece of clothing or a catalog becomes not only the price and year, but also connects an ongoing interest.

Kato Tadayuki and SSZ, from skateboard culture to clothing

SSZ, led by Kato Tadayuki, has long incorporated skateboarding, life observation and humor into its designs. The content of the Taipei event includes related collections, Fall/Winter 2026 clothing and limited products prepared for Taiwan, allowing the characters’ worldview to be read through different objects.

These contents belong to the event arrangement. Just because the photos or planning information are still online, it cannot be inferred that the limited products are still in stock. If you want to extend your understanding, you can start with SSZ’s clothing details and subsequent brand information, rather than just what you can buy that day.

EXPEDITION CLUB, turning outdoor collection into a viewing method

Kaneko Shigeru's EXPEDITION CLUB extends from "OUTDOOR EXPEDITION BOOK 99", bringing many years of outdoor clothing and classic items to the exhibition. Used clothing can retain the materials, colors and functional arrangements of a specific era, giving today's familiar outdoor styles a context to look back on.

When viewing the collection, you can first pay attention to pockets, zippers, tailoring and the needs of the year, and then see which elements continue to make their way into contemporary clothing. The significance of vintage clothing is not only that it becomes rarer as it gets older, but also that it leaves behind questions that the design once answered.

ORA catalog allows information other than clothes to be seen

The Outdoor Recreation Archive of Utah State University in the United States collects outdoor brand catalogs and historical documents, and the Taipei project also includes some data. Catalogs allow people to see how products were named, photographed and described back then, which is different information than just seeing a piece of clothing left behind.

This provides another way to understand outdoor culture: in addition to physical objects, we can also see how images, text and usage situations work together to create imagination. For those interested in design and object selection, archives can often provide new perspectives on familiar silhouettes.

The value of the market, how different interests meet

Clothing, art, music and food are put into the same event, giving people who originally arrived from different entrances the opportunity to get in touch with other fields. Anniversaries don’t have to be expressed only by looking back on the past, but can also bring long-term interpersonal and cultural connections back to the present.

This Taipei event has come to an end, but there are still names and methods worth pursuing. From SSZ's daily observations, EXPEDITION CLUB's collections to ORA's archives, readers can choose a direction they are interested in and continue reading, so that they can continue reading after the market.