I am Yoshida, president of Yamada Shusei Ltd., a professional apparel garment repair group in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
I read the 2024 edition of ”the Company Quarterly Industry Map”. The industry weather forecast for the apparel industry is "cloudy. Despite some recovery from the Corona disaster, consumer demand for apparel is weak. The business environment remains difficult due to soaring procurement costs.
It is pointed out that, after a phase in which price competition has long been the deciding factor between winners and losers, it has become vital to differentiate oneself through the added value of one's products, such as the functionality of Uniqlo and the work clothes chain Workman.
One of the key words is "upcycling".
This refers to the reuse of products that would normally be discarded by transforming them into products with new value.Examples include UNIQLO's in-store clothing repair business and MUJI's re-dyeing and resale of used clothing.
Meanwhile, the industry weather forecast for the reuse market is "sunny," pointing to a rapid recovery in store-based businesses, driven by the growth of e-commerce and CtoC, as well as the desire to save money and the SDGs.
We felt that there is a need to strengthen efforts to not only "reduce product loss in the pre-consumer stage" by restoring product value through conventional BtoB "repair," but also to contribute to "restoring product value after it is in the hands of the consumer.
