By Gabby and Zach
Today we continued our theme of focusing on the four commodities: Textiles, Sugar, Tea, and medicine, with the chosen commodity of the day being textiles. We started the day with a visit to one of the fast fashion giant-Uniqlo flagship stores in Ueno,Tokyo. Then we moved to Nishiguchi Kutushita Tokyo, specializing in quality socks. Lastly, we ended our day at the Maruwa Textile headquarters where we received an informational tour and history of the company, which detailed their works and their values. Each of these visits offered a unique perspective into how textiles as a commodity play a role in the Japanese fashion industry today.
Our first visit, Uniqlo, embodies the “fast fashion” trend that can be seen in the textile industry and the greater fashion landscape today. Fast fashion refers to low cost clothing collections based on high-cost fashion brands. Considering this, walking into the Uniqlo store a couple of things caught my eye. Firstly, I noticed that unlike a lot of popular brands Uniqlo doesn’t rely on flashy logos or brand recognition to sell their products. Secondly, I noticed the premium quality of the clothing at a reasonable price; according to the website the high quality to price ratio is achieved by having direct-to-consumer retailing and fabric sourcing. The company website states that they negotiate directly with suppliers to secure long term deals for “superior materials” such as Supima® cotton, merino wool and premium linen.
Continuing with the theme of textiles, our next stop was to Nishiguchi Kutsushita Tokyo, a small store that specializes in making a wide variety of high quality socks at a reasonable price per the quality. In opposition to Uniqlo this shop is not fast fashion but instead it is a local company that focuses on the consumer’s needs instead of the world’s trends. The socks ranged from thick woolen socks perfect for winter to breathable linen socks with spacing for individual toes to keep you as cool as possible during the summer months. We also noticed there was intention behind the specific colors used for production, which were created with the colors of the seasons. A practice we saw was used in the Edo Tokyo time period where kimono had specific patterns and colors depending on the season. For example, the memeri colorway was specifically released to commemorate the spring of 2026 in reference to the elements in nature.
After this, we entered the 70-year-old business. Starting in 1956, Maruwa Textile is one of the only clothing production companies in Japan, with a staggering 1.5% of companies in Japan producing clothing for the country. Despite Uniqlo’s good quality clothing and despite being fast fashion, the negative effect of globalization is that production in factories outside of Japan is quickly reducing the price and production of clothing within Japan. This is why the production of clothing by Japanese companies is so low. Due to this, their average worker is about 40 years old, and the smaller market means smaller profits, meaning that other jobs would be more attractive to the average worker.
What was fascinating about this company was their sheer dedication to the craft. To this point, they sought out Mr. Nakazawa Sensei, who was fascinated with human skin and wanted to make prints and fabrics that mimic human skin so that people would not feel uncomfortable in the clothing they wear. Because if it feels like skin, it would be more comfortable. So he ventured into Forensic Dermatology, dissecting human skin in the pursuit of understanding skin and the human body for our comfort. His work helped the company to make its own products to combat its declining production industry. They stick to a production niche so they don’t have to experience what fast fashion industries have to do, which is to lower the price of their goods because there are too many clothes in storage. Instead, they have a production camp, which allows them to maintain both their price and the valuation of the labor put into it.
In their dedication to reviving their shrinking industry, they created the Tokyo Knit Initiative; an alliance with other companies to let people know Tokyo is the center for clothing production in Japan, with currently 30 members who all create high-quality products. As well as creating the Value Creation Laboratory, to increase interest in the fashion industry and sewing production jobs through incubation and talent development centers.
A common theme displayed among the textile companies was their dedication to quality, comfort, and prioritizing the customer’s experience of their product. Profit is important of course, but considering our other visit to the Meiji Shrine and learning about the core of their main religions, Shintoism and Buddhism, one can say there is a centralism on the importance of the human being. If safeguarding the environment and one’s body is a sacred temple, then what textiles we put on it and grow for ourselves should prioritize the continued sanctification and comfort of these temples. And from the companies we explored today, there seems to be exactly that understanding.