I am Yoshida, president of Yamada Shusei, a professional apparel garment repair group in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
A month ago, it was announced that Hayao Miyazaki's film "How Do You Live?" will be released in the summer of 2023.
The title comes from the book "How Do You Live?" written by Genzaburo Yoshino. Director Hayao Miyazaki was very moved by this book when he read it as a boy.
In the book, there is a passage about "production" and "consumption.
Without those who create, we would not be able to enjoy and consume them. It is the work of creation that makes us human. Those who produce are far more important than those who receive. Therefore, you must never lose sight of this distinction between those who produce and those who consume.
The Japanese apparel industry is seeing an increasing trend toward high quality fast fashion, led by UNIQLO and ZARA, and consumers are becoming more price-conscious every year. This is no longer the era of "cheap or bad". The strategies of those who mass-produce and sell low-priced clothing incorporating the latest trends in a short cycle, such as China's SHEIN, which is attracting attention as a very inexpensive overseas shopping site, anticipate consumers who will switch from one clothing item to another in a short cycle. In the chain of "low-priced, short-cycle, mass-produced sellers" and "consumers who buy and then discard", there is no "respect for producers".
Yamada Shusei's management philosophy includes the phrase "to become a family that places value on circulating the true value of people and products in society. It is our desire to support those who support Japanese apparel manufacturing. We believe that "restoring the joy of making" in the Japanese apparel industry is a perspective that must not be forgotten in order to realize sustainable fashion.
