Ethical Fashion & Social Enterpreneurship: The Japanese case

Looking at the emerging ethical fashion landscape in Japan, the following quote immediately comes to mind:
“In matters of principle stand like a rock. In matters of style go with the flow.” [Thomas Jefferson]

Keeping to this principle, at the forefront of the movement, and commercially rather successful, we find – in all likelihood not by coincidence – social enterprises (or maybe more accurately: social businesses). The ethically minded designers do of course exist, some of them quite successfully, but commercially it is the social businesses that have managed to create a market for themselves.

A few of them have been around for a couple of decades, others for only slightly more than half of one. Yet all of them repeat the same refrain: The key is finding acceptance of their design with the prospective buyers. For that, if needed, any design is a good design. However, neither with regards to quality nor production principles any compromise is being made. If the design requires more expertise than the producers can offer at that point of time, training is being called for.

And, of course, all of these companies have their eyes firmly set on expansion. Primarily in Asia as this is were the most important current as well as future consumer markets are, with Europe only serving the purpose of creating a reputation as being a ‘chic’ and ‘desirable’ brand.

Another equally eminent aspect is the dedication to 物作り (monozukuri, 1-to-1 translated simply as ‘manufacturing’): the traditional spirit to produce excellent products and to constantly improve a production system and process. It usually implies a pride in the craftsmanship used to make something of high quality.
[Note: Scientific analysis of the concept’s robustness].
It goes without saying that quality craftsmanship – even if it is only related to actual manufacturing of e.g. fabrics – is both, highly appreciated as well as a firm part of those brands’ self-perception and public image.

In the aftermaths of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, social enterprises, among them a few that make fashion accessories, have launched initiates that are and will continue to provide some much needed support and income for families in the affected areas. A dedicated post coming week will look further into this specific aspect, and present some of the fashion related initiatives currently under way.

What is common to all however, much in accordance to their European peers, is that none of the enterprises wants to be even superficially – i.e. at ‘first glimpse’ – be labelled as ethical, green, eco, sustainable, fair trade or any of the other commonly circulating terms.
Instead, they aim at either engaging with buyers (corporate as much as individuals) where the full brand story and message is taken aboard, or else they chose to go down the ‘good design only’ route while not mentioning the hows and whys of their approach.

When it comes to their own growth as a brand and as a company, their undoubtedly first priority is to establish themselves in the domestic (i.e. Japanese) market. Launching themselves overseas doesn’t become of interest to them unless a firm strong hold is established locally, which by all account means multiple strong sales points in the key consumer centres of Japan (meaning, a couple or more shops in Tokyo, followed by Osaka and other cities).

Hereafter 3 examples of social business brands Shirahime was able to meet up with just before Christmas.

• Avanti [Fabrics, Apparel]:

  

  
  Founded some 20 years ago, Avanti’s paradigm revolved around organic cotton and an associated healthy, fashionable live style. While they buy their cotton from the US (Texas to be precise) – from the same farms ever since the start – the spinning and weaving takes entirely place in Japan. The fabrics and yarns for their own apparel collections are à prori always undyed but use instead the natural colour variations of cotton. Hence we find rusty reds and earthy greens in the colour range of their own apparel. A substantial part of their business, due to the high quality, is however the sales of the yarn and fabric itself, in which case they follow GOTS dye regulations if the customer requests dyed products.
  They consciously buy their organic cotton in an area (Texas) where mainstream GM cotton is the norm, and keep their production otherwise in small scale Japanese manufacturing plants at the verge of disappearance. It is in that sense that they have made a name for themselves not only in Japan itself, but also overseas.
• Mother House [Bags, Accessories]:

  

  The company was founded in 2006, with the principle idea to create work for Bangladeshi manufacturers of jute fabrics. The first collection of bags hence revolved around the jute theme, and sold successfully in recognised department stores such as Tokyo Hands in Tokio. The brand soon became an insider tip among young women, and the follow up collections sold successfully. By now, the majority of the brand’s collections is made from plant dyed leather, still providing work for the same Bangladeshi community. As of 2012, they in addition also produce in Nepal. Jute remains as one key product within the product range, however. Mother Houses possess a number of successful sales outlets in Tokyo – among them in one of the high end department stores in Shinjuku – and in March 2011 launched in Taiwan. The launch in Shanghai and Beijing is schedules for 2012, and further Asian countries are already on the radar.
• Hasuna [Precious Jewellery, Accessory Jewellery]:

  

  Hasuna is the one and only Japanese ethical jewellery brand, and has managed to carve out a small niche for themselves in an otherwise outrageously competitive wedding jewellery market. Using Oro Verde gold, or alternatively recycled gold, silver and platinum, and Canadian certified diamonds, they are the Japanese equivalent of CRED in the UK.
  As of 2011 they have launched three unique jewellery accessory collections made in Rwanda, Belize and Indonesia. These collections contain something for every taste, yet between them are sufficiently different to be attractive to people with varying life styles – from the conservative financial industry to the more him PR/marketing people and finally the artsy cool ‘different’ ones.
  To achieve that, they use materials that are native to each area, and if handled correctly achieve rare, beautiful effects: horn and feathers from rare birds (Rwanda), pieces of sea shells (Belize), and natural black pearls (irregulars, i.e. off casts of the pearl industry Indonesia).