Special Focus: Textiles

Topics:

Japan has a long history of textile production, and is one of the largest producers of technical textiles. In a global market flooded by cheap textiles from China and other emerging nations, Japan’s textile industry is transforming itself into an industry specialised in technical and smart textiles to survive the competition. Innovations like synthetic spider silk and wearable health monitors are among the efforts to set the Japanese textile industry apart from others. The Japanese textile industry generated 3.5 trillion yen in 2015, employing 246,000 people in 14,000 companies. They make up 6.2% of all companies in manufacturing. 56% of the production value was from the production of finished apparel products, while 10% were generated by the sale of synthetic textiles and 5% by carbon fibres. . To read more, please click on the link below: 

About Textiles

The Japanese leather industry is dominated by SMEs, producing in rather small quantities. Sales are currently declining, and the demographic change could further shrink the customer base in the near future. However, increased inbound tourism and the promotion of “Made in Japan” leather products could help to make the leather industry successful again. Beside natural leather, Japan is also producing large quantities of synthetic leather, and the development of high-quality and finely textured synthetic leather is said to have a huge potential in the luxury fashion market. To find out more, please see below: 

Leather

With its long tradition in silk production, Japan has been at the forefront of the global silk industry in the early 20th century. But with the influx of cheap silk from overseas and the development of synthetic materials, the Japanese silk industry collapsed, leaving only about 300 silk farmers in 2018. Increased awareness for locally produced goods and efforts to revive traditional sericulture have contributed to the development of projects across Japan to once again revive the domestic production of silk and silk products. At the same time, the government is also working together with Southeast Asian governments to diversify its silk import portfolio and to boost the local silk industry. To read more, please click on the link below: 

Silk

Publications:

This report titled "Technical Textile Market in Japan" provides an overview of trends and opportunities within the Japanese technical textile sector. It discusses the significant growth which the technical textiles industry has recently enjoyed in Japan as well as the increasing demand for technological innovations within this sector in Japan. This report will also outline and discuss the growing emphasis on healthy, environmentally friendly technical textiles among Japan's major manufacturers.  It will also evaluate the long-term viability of the Japanese technical textile sector, making the case that the future of this industry in Japan lies in innovative, niche variations of their existing technical textile foundations. For further reading, please click on the link below: 

Report: Technical Textile Market in Japan

Upcoming Webinar:

Finding new export channels is critical for any business but especially now during the Covid-19 crisis. Japan offers EU companies a real opportunity to find new sales. Japan may be affected as much as many markets, but the lock down has not been as severe and economic functions continue. Japanese consumers also have much, much higher savings levels than many markets so, even in downturn, have more spending capacity – this is why Japan has remained one of the top five consumer economies in the last 20 years on a per capita basis. The leather and footwear markets are stable and Japanese demand for great design, quality and function from EU firms remains strong. In this webinar, we will cover Market Size and Trends, Market Structure and Key Players, and How and who to sell to. To register for our coming webinar 'Opportunities in Japan’s Leather and Footwear Market', please click on the following link:

Webinar 154: Opportunities in Japan’s Leather and Footwear Market