Fast fashion edges out luxury brands in Japan amid recession
- Source: Global Times
- [01:23 November 11 2009]
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By Gao Xiaohui
With major luxury brands withdrawing one after another from Japan, the clothing world's version of fast food, fast fashion brands, are sneaking forward confidently as the global recession still nibbles at consumption in the world's second-largest economy.
The Italian luxury brand Versace last month announced it would close its last three boutiques in Japan in a sign of how the luxury market is beginning to lose its luster for the once brand-obsessed market, following LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods brand, which abandoned a flagship store plan in Ginza last year.
The consulting firm Bain said in a recent report that it expects sales of high-end clothing, accessories, tableware, cosmetics and jewelry to drop by 10 percent in Japan this year.
This situation has been exacerbated by the growth of so-called fast fashion – fashion shops featuring cheap and trendy clothes, with new items hitting the shop floor on a daily basis. Names include Zara of Spain, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) of Sweden and Japan's own Uniqlo and Forever 21.
Zara operates nearly 30 stores in Japan, known for the speed with which it rushes onto the market outfits reflecting the newest preferences of shoppers roaming the high streets of major cities.
Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M will add its first full "concept" store Saturday in Tokyo's Shinjuku area to its five shops in Japan established since its entry in September, 2008.
Japanese domestic casual wear chain Uniqlo is extending its international reach by opening a large-scale store in Paris in October.
Its parent company, Fast Retailing, which runs about 780 Uniqlo stores in Japan and 90 overseas, forecast a 10.5 percent rise in operating profits this financial year.
Privately owned Forever 21, which entered the market in April with a shop in Harajuku, is aiming to open two to three more stores in Japan over the next nine to 12 months.
"Luxury is not in vogue right now given the lack of consumer confidence," Larry Meyer, Forever 21's chief financial officer, told the Wall Street Journal. "As in the US, in Japan there has been an underlying group of people who couldn't afford luxury and wanted trend-like fashion at a lower price – the downturn has made that market that much larger."
