The Los Cabos Sushi Club Capsule Celebrates Nobu Matsuhisa and Chris Stamp’s Love for Sushi Culture
Stamp discusses how it all began and the brand’s rapid growth.
The overlap between food and clothing may not seem natural at first, but the balance of culture and history the two share makes for a perfect recipe. Since first joining forces in 2021, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Chris Stamp have explored those possibilities with their brand Sushi Club. Originally operating as a joint venture between Stamp’s Stampd label and Nobu Matsuhisa’s Matsuhisa and Nobu restaurants, Beverly Hills Sushi Club made its debut in 2021 – nodding to the sushi community that Chef Nobu created in Los Angeles with his first Matsuhisa restaurant and his later Nobu establishments.
In just a few years, the Sushi Club brand has grown to encapsulate 14 of Chef Nobu’s restaurant locations including Aspen, Miami, St. Tropez, New York, Malibu, Mykonos, Vail, Dubai, Munich and more. Recently, the brand took to Los Cabos for its latest collection and largest activation yet. Setting down at the Nobu Hotel Los Cabos and its new “Residences” – which offers 60 exclusive residential-style suites – the celebration encapsulated a weekend of dining, a special sushi demonstration from Chef Nobu, festivities and luxury accommodations. 14 collections in, Chris Stamp reflects on the brand’s origins and why he’s excited to continue growing.
“This is a cool medium for us to speak to the Nobu and Matsuhisa world outside of the culinary experience,” said Stamp.
Sushi Club Los Cabos
How did you conceptualize Sushi Club and its purpose when you and Nobu started working together?
Nobu and I met at the end of 2019 and just organically clicked. When Nobu and I first started talking about the possibility of working together after a year of knowing each other, I was so excited at the prospect; but simultaneously, I didn’t want to just do something where it’s just two of our brand names together.
I realized we had an opportunity to tell the story of what Matsuhisa means to Los Angeles culture specifically. In my research, I came across several old clubs in LA during the ‘60s and ‘70s. One day, during a walk with my wife, the idea of Beverly Hills Sushi Club came to me.
That’s what Nobu has in Los Angeles – an unspoken “sushi club” with the customers who have been dining with him since the ‘80s.
Sushi Club Los Cabos
How do you figure out what’s going to be the next Sushi Club destination?
Initially, it was only supposed to be Beverly Hills. I never thought we’d be sitting in Cabo three years later releasing our 15th city-specific collection.
After the Beverly Hills Sushi Club collection, we decided to introduce Aspen into the Sushi Club conversation. I wasn’t sure if it would work outside Beverly Hills, but I wanted to try it. That was the first time Nobu and I thought: “Does this have legs outside of a Beverly Hills collection?” Through the Aspen pop-up and online, we almost completely sold out of the collection and figured “Maybe this is something.”
At that point, other Nobu locations and partners started to inquire. So, Nobu himself is now the driving force in introducing new locations and opportunities. This is a cool medium for us to speak to the Nobu and Matsuhisa world outside of the culinary experience.
How do you further the design development of the collections?
The Beverly Hills collection has about 50 styles. It’s the oldest collection of all 14 locations, so it has the most variety of garment styles. We’ve started using that as a starting point. We start with the core collection for each new location and then introduce new ideas and colors.
Sushi Club Los Cabos
Sushi Club Los Cabos
Of all the Sushi Club drops, the Los Cabos edition is the largest activation. What does that represent for the brand given its growth thus far?
It’s my dream to be able to do what we’re doing in Mexico, of all places. I’m not surprised that Los Cabos stepped up and was able to present the collection to this degree. They impressed us with how they took some of our initial ideas of how to make the weekend a memorable experience and took them to the next level.
The transformation from Sushi Club launches, which started as a small 15-person dinner in LA, to a 30-person dinner last night with an after-party, and then to be on a boat this morning with Sushi Club Los Cabos on the side is incredible.
Do you have a favorite Sushi Club collection?
After this trip, it’s hard for this one not to top the list. Beverly Hills is close to my heart as is Aspen, but I love what we did for Beverly Hills since it’s the OG Matsuhisa. That location is really what got me into having such an affinity for Nobu’s art form
