Official Statement Regarding Lace Up 2024

February 4th, 2025 - 4:22pm EST

This is an official statement of my (Néant Glass/Kei LaVonne) involvement with Ken Ricafort/Den Takahara, Lolita Memoires, Ayu Natsume/Ayu De Pano, Yu-En Productions, and Lace Up 2024.

 

I was approached in the Spring of 2024 to sponsor the Lace Up Halloween event in the Philippines by Ken Ricafort / Den Takahara / Yu-En Productions.  I had suspicions with the first message he sent, but given that he worked with names I trusted (and used said names in the messages), I chose to move forward with donations as a requested event sponsor.  

As a sponsor to the event, I sent nearly $1,200 (70,500₱) of product to Ken who claimed to represent the local Lolita community and event, yet I was never consulted about how my work should be represented and how the donations would be handled once received.  There was no indication that items sent would be used for anything other than the event, as the pitch was for an event that also commemorated the launch of the next volume of Ken’s magazine, Lolita Memoires.  There was no separation between the two, or that offered “promotion” would be for anything other than event purposes.  I was led to believe from the first message that all items were strictly donations to the community and event and did not question this as there was nothing in the messages that led me to believe otherwise at the time of proposal.

When I proposed my initial donations, he demanded more than I felt comfortable giving, asking for specific colors and floral items, and to send more than I offered, but I still chose to move forward and selected donations out of left-over event stock that roughly matched the requests.  No custom items were made for the purpose of this donation, as Ken has claimed.

In our initial agreement, I was under the impression that everything I sent would be used as a donation for the community through raffles and contest prizes at Lace Up 2024, as was stated in their pitch to me, and this is the sole reason I agreed to donate.  In the initial agreement, I stated multiple times that the items were to be donated to the event and raffled after promotion and fashion show use- the option to sell pieces was never discussed, nor was the option to “render” items for “services”.  Any promotion he guaranteed was a potential perk, but did not factor in my decision to participate whatsoever.  My decision was based solely on a desire for the local community to have a successful event and give chances for more people to receive my work who may not have a chance otherwise (event attendees only).  

Since the first day of this “collaboration”, I was heavily deceived. No contract was ever provided to me, and I donated in good faith as I have for numerous other events without issue over the past six years. There was never any mention of delegating items as payment to himself, his fiancé, or other specific individuals for "services," and I was told that items would be used for promotion AND donation to the event, not split for either or. The personal relationship between Ken and Ayu was not disclosed to me, but was uncovered through their social media activity. I was led to believe initially that Ayu was strictly a “model”, and not Ken’s fiancé. This lack of disclosure regarding their personal relationship was extremely unprofessional and presents a large conflict of interest, especially in their choice to keep items as payment for “services” by the “model."

 

Throughout the time leading up to the event, the individuals in question made many strange claims and I feel they greatly over-stepped how they presented themselves and misrepresented my brand.  Ayu added to her Instagram bio that she was the “Muse of Néant Glass”, my personal and business Facebook and Instagram accounts were heavily spammed with comments and tags to promote their several daily posts from multiple accounts, the models made false claims that I “sponsored” their “look” and that custom items were created specifically for the models.  I missed this last claim at the time of posting due to the volume of the spam, but noticed at a later date.

The other main sponsor for Lace Up was a Taobao reseller that is known for giving free product in exchange for promotion.  This is not an issue, and I have no negative opinion of them, but I felt it was not a good choice to align my brand with a factory clothing reseller, when I am a single artist and sole-proprietor to my business. I design and create every piece by hand, and do not resell designs from other brands.  These choices, coupled with allocating several items to themselves, gave the false impression that I was sponsoring individuals by asking them to represent me and sent them free product in exchange.  I was never asked if any pieces could be allocated to their personal use, was never consulted about the promotional projects, and was still under the impression that all items used in the promotional photoshoots would be given to community members to support a successful event.

 

A few days before the event, I was contacted by Ken and informed that my items were no longer going to be raffled to attendees as was agreed upon, but would be auctioned instead.  I did not approve of this change, but could not dispute it because I knew I could not do anything if this is what he had decided, and was told the change in format was to raise funds for a cause that I supported (fundraiser for an organizer who had passed away).  I reluctantly agreed, as auctioning items leaves much room for misappropriation.  After the event, I was sent event photos, but noticed that of the 20 items I sent for event donations, very few were shown, and most pieces photographed were worn by Ken and Ayu.  This was never what we agreed upon and was a great violation of my trust and understanding.

 

Immediately following the event, Ken started a group chat on Instagram and volunteered me to make custom orders for several individuals without my consent.  Demand for my work is far too high for me to offer custom orders, and I have been very vocal in stating that this is something I do not offer.  I was very angry with him for taking the liberty to volunteer my time and labor to various people without asking, but it was not enough to prompt me to raise my concerns/suspicions yet, as this action seemed more of a lapse of judgement on his part.

 

A few days after the event ended, I noticed photos of Ken, Ayu, and their friend (other model for photoshoots) wearing several pieces that should have been raffled at the event, a post offensively claiming I "sponsored" their "look", and another post where the other model called one of the unaccounted for donations one of her "most prized possessions".  This was very wrong to me, but I did not yet press the issue as I didn't have all the details and considered that the photos might have been from before the event, but I began documenting the evidence of donation misuse.  A few days following, photos of Ken were posted where he can be seen wearing a stolen donation (floral coffin rosary, $100) to a memorial service, which took place after Lace Up had ended.

Finally, several independent brands reached out to me stating Ken had contacted them for product-for-promotion and had used my brand name multiple times in his messages.  The messages were suspicious to them because they knew me as a respectable artist and member of the community who would not need nor choose to sponsor individuals for promotion.  Promotion-for-product trades are something I generally abhor and heavily discourage artists from participating in.  Néant has NEVER engaged in this type of trade and never will.  I asked to see the messages, and was absolutely appalled when I read the false false claims Ken was making about my business to other brands, taking credit for Néant’s October sales success, and claiming I had never had orders from the Philippines before, when I have had multiple customers in the Philippines since 2021.  I reached out to other brands whom I knew personally that had also sponsored Lace Up with questions about how their donations were handled, and the lack of transparency and confusion was universal amongst us- no one knew the status of their donations.  Every brand I reached out to that donated to the event sent items that never reached the community and were kept for personal use by Ken and Ayu (“rendered” for “services”, as stated by Ken).  These brands also informed me they were not promoted and photographed as they were promised, noting that most of the promotional focus was on my brand, though he never consulted me on how this should be handled.

 

I felt deceived and extremely angry, and I contacted Ken directly to gain clarification regarding the lack of transparency and request that my brand name not be used in these types of requests.  I was ignored by Ken and the messages went to “read” status for a full day, so I posted to my Instagram stories to be wary of the types of requests he was sending and that false claims surrounding my business were made, without naming him as responsible.  When Den saw this, he immediately contacted me with an abrupt “apology” message.   At that time I was very angry at his lack of respect towards me and began to draft a formal request to end all involvement and cease-and-desist for any use of the Néant brand name, images, materials, and likeness.

 

I chose to confront Ken again shortly following, and at this time delivered the full cease-and-desist asking him to halt any usage of the Néant brand name, images, and interview pending publishing.  Ken then claimed that no sales took place and no items were stolen, but could only account for 5 of the 20 donated items and did not address the photos of him wearing pieces after the event.  I pressed multiple times for transparency and asked for specifics on how many items went to event attendees, how much money was raised through sales/auction, and when and to whom the fundraiser money was sent.  I was not given a single answer, but was told that he could not provide the requested information because he did not know and hadn’t tallied the donations, nearly a month after the event ended.  Ken claimed that no sales took place, but has lacked any form of consistency in his answers to my questions, and now has furnished proof that sales did in fact take place, after pestering the departed organizer’s family for a signed statement of having received the donations in a time when they should be given privacy for their mourning.  The donations were not sent to the family until after I began pursuing the issue of transparency, mishandled donations, undisclosed amounts of funds raised, and lack of proof that funds were allocated to the family.

I contacted members of the local community to raise my concerns, and they agreed to hold a meeting with Ken and Ayu to gain clarity so I could be informed on the status of my donations.  At this meeting, Ken drafted a very insulting, poorly-written document that included the use of my name and representation of me and my brand without my consent.  When I asked community members for status updates on the meeting, they told me that a document was created with information, but that it was under legal review, so they could not speak further on it.  Every time I have contacted the representative, she has been kind, polite, and prompt in responding to all of my questions to the best of her ability.

Ken has since sent me a copy of this document, written by himself with clear bias in his favor.  The parties affected (myself and other brands) had no knowledge of the document and did not consent to this act as we could not not represent ourselves.  About two months after this meeting, Ken contacted me directly, ignoring my requests to discontinue contact, and this is when he sent me a copy of the document.  I was extremely offended by the actions he chose to take, and noticed a section of the document stating that those who damaged the relationship between Ken and my brand will be held financially liable.  It is at this time that I am formally stating that there was not a single person who gave me false information aside from Ken, and that my choice to discontinue all contact and involvement with him, and withdraw all consent of his usage of my brand name, falls entirely on him as the responsible party.  Ken chose to mislead me, lie to me, deflect my questions, and even blame me for his mishandling of my donations and breach of trust, and treated me with complete disrespect and attempted to represent me without my consent or knowledge.  His actions are what brought me to my decision to end all communication and working relationship with him.

In this same email, Ken informed me that he would be sending back 9 of the 20 donated items, 7 of which were payment to himself and his personal relationships for "services".  This was NEVER something we agreed upon, nor even mentioned at any point in time during our contact.  These items did arrive back to me, but only after I had to retrieve them from an incorrect address he shipped to, and arrived in severely damaged condition beyond any possibility of resale or promotional use.  Damages include water intrusion, scratches and scuffs, deep discoloration, and severe tarnishing on items he gave to himself as payment without my knowledge or permission.  This damage was not sustained in shipping, as the parcel arrived intact and undamaged- the damages are from heavy use and lack of care over an extended time period of several months.  Ken gave me a list of every item from the event with an explanation on how they were allocated, which only leads to further confusion as it makes little sense.

Here is the breakdown, as provided by Ken:

• Only ONE item went to an event attendee as a raffle item.

• SEVEN items were kept by Ken and or given to Ayu and the other model as payment for their services- which was never agreed upon, disclosed to me, nor would have ever been allowed.  Only some of these items were returned to me.

• THREE items were held by Ken to be given to Lace Up coord contest winners at a later date, which it is not explained as to why they were not distributed at the event the night of and were still in his possession months after the event ended.  It is worth noting that all three of these items are plain color rings that show signs of extensive use.

• FOUR items were held to be given to the top pledgers for the Lolita Memoirs magazine launch.  Again, I was led to believe that this launch was part of the programming for the event, as Ken directly told me it was, not that these items would be held and distributed at an undetermined date in the future.

• FIVE items were exchanged at the event for cash donations to the charity via Ken.  It is not clear whether these items were auctioned or sold discreetly, as I have received conflicting reports regarding the exchange of funds.

I donated twenty items that I clearly stated were all to be donated to the raffle at the event and distributed to attendees, but only one item was raffled, five were confusingly sold, and there was no transparency on how much they were sold for until months later when I pressed for answers and the family still had not received the donation funds from Ken.  There are several photos of Ken and Ayu wearing the items they kept outside of the event and photoshoots, which explains the extensive damages to the items that I received back.

Lastly, in this same email, Ken also chose to furnish “proof” of Facebook comments from my personal Facebook stating I “loved” the idea to use items for the promotion of his magazine, but again, I was misled that the magazine launch was a part of the event that I was sponsoring and was never told it was a separate donation that would be handled at a later date, as I was told the launch was a part of Lace Up 2024.  This is an example of his blatant attempts to manipulate the narrative and prove his innocence by misleading donors and using their statements against them that were made under intentionally misleading contexts that lack honesty and transparency on his part.

To conclude my statement, I will never work with Ken, Ayu, or any group they are affiliated with again.  I was lied to, disrespected, misrepresented, and robbed of donations that all stemmed from his deceitful and disingenuous control of our communication and agreements.  This incident has resulted in considerable financial loss for my business, a blow to my income as a self-employed artist, and damage to my brand’s reputation.  I extend my deepest condolences to parties affected by Ken’s behavior and condemn the actions he chose to take during the entire course of this incident and following, as well as the manipulation and dishonesty he chooses to uphold.

Respectfully,

K****** (Kei) LaVonne H*****

Néant Glass