Japan news and archive

Japan's luxury market remains resilient despite weak yen, falling wages and rising prices

Japan's general fashion and textile market began declining in the 1990s and contracted further during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although a gradual recovery has been observed in recent years, the market has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. The domestic luxury market, however, has shown significant growth over the past five years despite the...

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Business

Cheap clothing imports, high-quality material exports: figures reveal Japan's fashion industry

In recent years, Japan's apparel market has consistently fallen short of the nine trillion yen level seen before Covid-19. One reason for this phenomenon is the labour shortage in the textile industry. The average annual income in the textile sector is 5.81 million yen, which exceeds the wider industry average. However, textile wages remain more...

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Fashion

Five Japanese fashion and textile organisations to know

The Japanese fashion industry is built on a multilayered connection of diverse areas, including material development, apparel production, cultural dissemination and environmental response. In this “material exporting country”, where textile export values exceed those of apparel products, the importance of overseas communication is increasing...

Retail|In Pictures

Zara opens flagship in Osaka with Japan's first Zacaffè

Madrid – Zara, the leading fashion chain of the Inditex group, is looking to Asia and strengthening its presence in Japan with the opening of a new flagship store in Osaka. The establishment is filled with nods to local culture. A key feature is the inclusion of the first Zacaffè coffee shop that the chain has launched in the country. Located in...

Retail

Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart opens first clothing store in Tokyo

Japanese supermarket chain Family Mart, which also offers clothing, operates over 15,000 stores nationwide. On September 1, 2025, it opened its first store dedicated exclusively to its ‘Convenience Wear’ segment, spanning 62 square metres. The line was developed in 2016 with designer Hiromichi Ochiai, who also founded the Japanese brand...

Retail

Ecoalf strengthens its international business with new store in Japan

Madrid – Ecoalf, the Spanish fashion brand founded and led by Javier Goyeneche, has been at the forefront of sustainable fashion since its launch in 2012. It is expanding its retail network with the opening of a new flagship store in Japan. This country stands out as one of its key markets, and following this opening, Ecoalf now has five stores...

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Fashion

20 years on: A brief history of Tokyo’s fashion week

As the 20th edition of Tokyo Fashion Week begins to wrap up, it seems an apt time to look back on the evolution of Japan’s leading fashion event and how it has been reshaped over its lifespan. This season, under the theme ‘Be The Seam That Connects The World - JFW 20 + 20’, the fashion week wished not only to pay tribute to its 20-year history,...

Retail|In Pictures

Calvin Klein to open largest lifestyle store in Tokyo

American designer brand Calvin Klein Inc., a subsidiary of PVH Corp., is continuing its global retail expansion with the opening of its largest lifestyle store in Tokyo, Japan, designed in a one-of-a-kind concept. The new global flagship store, opening on August 29, is located at 4-31-10, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, in the heart of Harajuku, Tokyo....

Fashion

Japan Fashion Week to celebrate 20 years with forward-looking Rakuten FWT

The Japan Fashion Week Organisation (JFWO) is celebrating its 20th anniversary for the spring/summer 2026 season, and with it will come a future-orientated edition of Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo (FWT). This season, both the fashion week’s visual theme – ‘The Future Doesn’t Appear Out of Nowhere’ – as well as its overall theme – ‘Be the seam that...

People

Founder of Japan’s The Soloist to step down from creative helm

Takahiro Miyashita has revealed his intention to step down from the creative helm of TheSoloist, the brand he founded in 2010. The Japanese designer announced in a post on Instagram that the autumn/winter 2025 collection, entitled ‘The Black -And- White Realism’, will be his last for the label. In the statement, Miyashita said: “15 years on, the...

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Business

Asia holds the thread: Regional textile powers reinvent strategies amid global slowdown

While 2024-2025 financial results show a slowdown in consumption in several Asian countries – particularly for luxury groups like LVMH – the global textile sector continues to rely on the region. Several indicators from the first half of 2025 confirm Asia’s central role in global value chains. Between export growth, structural adjustments,...

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Business

EU and Japan agree on closer cooperation

Japan and the European Union (EU) aim to further strengthen their cooperation in the areas of economic security, trade and defence. For this purpose, both sides launched a "Competitiveness Alliance" at a summit meeting in Tokyo. "We will expand our cooperation on increasing the resilience of supply chains and reducing strategic dependencies," a...