Made to measure future for wool suit market

The International Wool Textile Organisation Congress, held in Kyoto, Japan last week saw delegates from around the world gather to discuss the future of wool, including key challenges facing the sector.

During a session delving into Japanese retail habits, panel host and Campaign for Wool chief operations officer Peter Aykroyd said when he visited Japan in 1977, the country's suit consumption was "amazing".

"It continued until the bursting of the economic bubble in 1991 and it started to drop," he said.

"The yearly suit consumption budget in Japanese yen went down to rock bottom in 2020 and 2021, and now it's coming back in 2022 but it's a new type of suit.

"Recovery is coming back to pre-pandemic levels... the suit market will not come back to 1977 levels.

"We are going to live with a niche... a good niche, a prosperous niche.

"Consumers in this market and other markets are going to ask for something special... that's the way we're going to see the future here in Japan."

Taka Suzuki from Dormeuil Japan said changing work conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic had fundamentally changed people's purchasing desires.

"Changes in lifestyle due to COVID will be affecting our business environment and it will be difficult to survive in the market after the current rebound situation unless each retailer is adjusting their way of doing business to be in line with the new lifestyle of consumers," he said.

Mr Suzuki said the made to measure suits market was reviving and expanding in Japan.

"This is not simply because the suits market has expanded, but because sophisticated MTM companies have emerged, which are different from the traditional MTM companies that existed in the past," he said.

"However since the overall consumption of suits and the suits market is shrinking, we cannot expect to see a significant increase of MTM suits consumption in volume, but there is no doubt that it will continue to be important and to increase its share in the total suiting market in Japan."

MORE READING:

Mr Suzuki said even though the women's suit market was growing, overall the suit market for both women and men was shrinking due to COVID-19 lifestyle changes.

He said to survive the shrinking market Dormeil had to diversify, collaborating with other products such as upholstery and shoes.

Aoymama Trading's Tatsunori Yamamoto said there had been a 703 per cent growth rate for Aoyama's made to measure suits over the past three years.

"I think this represents people's recent mindset or attitude to the suits," he said.

"This market segment has big potential."

WWD Japan editorial director Chizuru Mukou said the new affluent class was seeking "quiet luxury", comfortable to wear clothing made of high-end material, rather than having obvious logos.

Ms Mukou said Japanese women's wear was also going through a trend moving away from casual wear to more elegant items, with sales of dress pants, formal shoes and jackets going up.

"After COVID-19, this kind of trend is observed according to the investigation of sales of clothes," she said.

"It's a very good trend for wool and this trend is not only in Japan, this is a common trend in the world.

"Part is correction... every ten years it goes casual to elegance, or elegance to casual, so the elegance trend will be continued for a while."