Retail & Wholesale

December 2007

Japanese Apparel Makers Supply U.S., Europe From Asian Plants
Japanese apparel companies are actively cultivating overseas markets to offset slowing sales in Japan. Tomiya Apparel Co. is starting to sell shirts made in Southeast Asia to leading apparel and clothing stores in the U.S. and Europe. It has opened its first overseas sales site in Hong Kong, which will supply items made on an OEM basis at three plants in Vietnam and Myanmar to European and U.S. apparel producers via procurement locations in the city. It aims to sell 1 million garments in the U.S. and Europe, 10% of its projected sales volume for the year ending this month. Daidoh Ltd. has entered a partnership with a high-end Italian apparel designer and, beginning with next year's fall and winter lines, will sell high-quality fabrics to European apparel makers from its Chinese plant. It is rare for Japanese apparel makers to supply fabric and clothing to U.S. and European apparel makers without going through a trading firm. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, December 15, 2007)