Japan's fast fashion not likely to be a flash in the pan
TOKYO -
Fast fashion retail was undoubtedly the buzzword for 2009 as the slow economy drove Japanese consumers away from top luxury brands to affordable-but good-quality-apparel.
But don’t expect the cheap and chic brands to go away quickly in 2010, even if Japan manages to lift itself from a bruising recession.
Many fashion experts say the rise of what are often termed ‘‘recession brands’’ reflects a longer-term shift in fashion preferences among the Japanese as they gradually adapt to the new and growing reality that their country is no longer an economic powerhouse.
And nowhere is that change more apparent than in Tokyo’s Ginza district, once a magnet for luxury stores such as LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton of France and Gucci Group NV of Italy.
Sales of premium bags and other high-end fashion items plummeted as consumers tightened their purse strings, forcing Italian fashion house Gianni Versace to pull out of Japan and Louis Vuitton to scrap its plan to open a new flagship store in Ginza.
On the other hand, long snaking lines formed in the posh shopping district when Sweden’s H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB opened its first store in 2008 and Japan’s Fast Retailing Co expanded its Uniqlo store by occupying the space left by U.S. retailer Brooks Brothers.
Speculation is rife that Los Angeles-based Forever 21 Inc will open its first store in Ginza in a space formerly occupied by Gucci, while Gap Inc, headquartered in San Francisco, is also scheduled to move in where Louis Vuitton withdrew.
‘‘The story of Ginza has suddenly become the story of fast fashion,’’ said W David Marx, a freelance writer and fashion market analyst in Tokyo.
Takeyuki Iwasaki, a senior apparel consultant at Funai Consulting Co, said changes in Japanese fashion preferences did not occur overnight but accompanied a shift to frugality among consumers during the years of economic stagnation that stalked Japan long before the global financial crisis erupted in 2008.
‘‘Consumers have become cleverer about dressing well with relatively cheap clothes’’ over the past six to seven years, Iwasaki said. ‘‘Even if economic conditions improve in the future, sales (of fast fashion brands) are likely to remain quite strong.’‘
But many agree that a shortage of money is not the only factor boosting demand for inexpensive fashion brands, although it was certainly a strong trigger that drove their popularity.
‘‘The boom is unlikely to fade out since fast fashion is a perfect match for Japanese young people, who view clothing as perishable, rather than durable, goods,’’ said Kensuke Kojima, president of Tokyo-based apparel consulting firm Kojima Fashion Marketing Co.
Kojima added that the new ‘‘digital’’ generation with ‘‘limited body sizes, senses and economic power’’ are unlikely to pursue the kind of perfection and texture sought in traditional clothing such as kimonos, which were passed on from one generation to the next.
And making a fashion statement is no longer about holding a Louis Vuitton or Hermes bag, which explains why Fast Retailing continues to rake in profits even as Japan’s retail industry shrivels under the weight of sluggish consumer spending.
‘‘Young consumers in particular want products that they can put their own identity on instead of just taking the identity from a brand,’’ Marx said.
‘‘Uniqlo is everything to everybody,’’ he added. ‘‘It doesn’t try so hard to have a personality.’‘
The retailer logged a record-high group operating profit in the business year through August on the back of mega-hit products such as ‘‘Heat Tech’’ thermal innerwear and remains a rare bright spot in the industry, with sales at Uniqlo stores soaring more than 35% from a year earlier in October.
A new bellwether for the outlook for fast fashion brands in the notoriously fickle Japanese market is in the works after U.S. teen fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co opened its first Asian flagship store in Ginza in mid-December.
Like its rivals, the Ohio-based luxury casual brand is hoping to tap into the lucrative Asian market as double-digit declines in sales continue at home in the recession-battered United States.
Some analysts view Abercrombie’s entry into Japan with higher-end prices as a test for whether persistent deflationary pressures can be stemmed with the debut of a new brand outside the fast fashion grouping.
‘‘The economic environment might not be ideal today, but we believe our brands will be well-positioned for an eventual recovery,’’ an Abercrombie spokesperson said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy.
‘‘We’re confident that our pricing strategy is sustainable because it reflects the brand equity we have built and protects the brand for the long term,’’ the official added.
But a more fundamental change in consumer spending may be under way as Japan looks likely to relinquish its status as the world’s second-largest economy to neighboring China amid the double whammy of a ballooning aging society and a declining birthrate.
‘‘Even if the economy recovers slightly, the luxury culture will no longer return,’’ Kojima said. ‘‘Young people, who see Uniqlo, Forever 21 and H&M as sufficient, will never turn to Louis Vuitton or Hermes.’‘
‘‘And Japan will no longer be an economic powerhouse’’ able to resurrect the luxury boom, he said.
Source: www.japantoday.com