New Looms Open Up Possibilities for Traditional Textile Maker
Hosoo of Kyoto — from decaying industry to cutting edge
by Mamiko Nakano
Kimono is Japanese traditional clothing. However, today, most Japanese do not wear kimono on a daily basis. The kimono market has halved in size from 2005's 600 billion yen to 300 billion yen in 2014. [1]. Industry players are struggling to adjust to the changing times.
Nevertheless, one traditional textile maker has managed to find new buisness opportunities in foreign markets. Hosoo is a 300-year-old company that produces luxury kimono products, mainly ‘obi’ sashes, which are worn around the waist with a kimono. The company entered the international luxury interior design market after developing a loom that could weave textiles five times the normal width. Now, they produces textiles for luxury brands such a Dior and Chanel. We visited their studio to find out how they evolved to reach overseas markets.
[1]Data from Kyoto Foundation for Promoting Japanese Dress Industry website which was is based on Yano Research’s ‘Kimono Industry 2013–2014’.
A shrinking market and need to go global
Hosoo was founded in 1688. They are based in Nishijin, Kyoto — one of the main production centers for luxury obi. “Weaving a single Nishijin textile product is a 20-step process,” explains Masataka Hosoo, company director. “That means the textile has to go through the hands of 20 different craftspeople.” However, if the kimono market continues to shrink, these craftspeople will be out of work. “So if we want the traditional techniques to be passed on to future generations, our only option is to develop new markets.” This reality motivated his company to break into overseas markets.
Hosoo first tried exhibiting their products at a major interior trade fair in 2006, at Paris, France. The product they presented was a chair that used Nishijin cloth on the seat and backrest. However, since the conventional loom for weaving Nishijin textiles was a mere 32 cm wide, seams could be seen on the chair. “The fabric’s width was obviously too narrow. So the following year we did more market research. We found that there was a certain demand for cushions in Europe — something that we could manage to weave with the existing loom.”
The Nishijin cushion by Hosoo was picked up by department stores such as Liberty and Lane Crawford. However, the operation was in the red, with travel expenses outpacing sales. Hosoo’s overseas division was on the verge of disappearing.
Email leads to breakthrough
Soon after, another opportunity presented itself. In 2008, the Japanese and French governments jointly organized an exhibition in Paris and New York under the theme “Japanese sensibility.” Hosoo participated, exhibiting a traditional obi woven in Nishijin.
After the exhibition in New York, an email arrived. It was from Peter Marino, the architect behind the interior design of Christian Dior shops around the world. “Mr. Marino said that he saw our Nishijin obi at the exhibition and asked us to develop a new textile.” An image was attached to the email for reference: a photo of melting iron. Hosoo notes that the texture expressed in the photo was contemporary.
“Until we got this order from Dior, we thought we had to stick to products using traditional Japanese patterns. But the photo we got from Dior did not look Japanese at all. We realized that overseas customers wanted textiles that used the Nishijin techniques and materials but were also able to blend into their personal living environments.” This single order taught Hosoo an important lesson: if they removed the stereotypes from Nishijin textiles, then many new possibilities would open up.
Developing a larger loom for a new market
To pursue this new opportunity and achieve a breakthrough, one problem needed to be resolved: fabric width. Fabric woven using a conventional Nishijin loom is 32 centimeters wide — seams are unavoidable if the textile is used as a wall covering. A new and larger loom was needed.
“We took a whole year to develop a loom that could weave cloth that’s 1.5 meters wide. The loom was completed at the end of 2010 and expanded the numbers and variations of products we could create. Today, some 90 Christian Dior boutiques around the world use our textiles to decorate their walls.” After working with Christian Dior, the company’s collaborations with luxury brands developed quickly. Following Louis Vuitton and Chanel, they started working with the Ritz Carlton Hotel chain’s interior. They have provided original textiles for the clothing collections for Mihara Yasuhiro and Commes des Garcons. Art is the newest of their collaborations, partnering with artists Teresita Fernandez and Sputuniko.
Aside from collaborations with global luxury brands and artists, Hosoo develops 35 original fabrics every year. “We do the planning for these textiles in-house. Our craftspeople are also designers. If we didn’t have this in-house creative capability, then collaborating with artists and brands would be more difficult.”
Sharing what was learned for further growth
In the studio where the looms are located, the thrum of the machines echoes throughout the room. Hosoo now has five looms capable of weaving 1.5-meter-wide textiles. Computer programs for these new looms were created too. “Each loom has 9,000 holes for the thread. By programming the movement of the thread, we can design the structure of the fabric.”
The eight craftspeople working in this studio are all experts on 1.5-meter-wide fabrics. They are in their 20s and 30s, and among the youngest craftspeople in Nishijin. Many graduated from fashion and art schools. “Everyone here wants to break through into overseas markets with quality goods from Japan,” said Hosoo.
Hosoo hopes that in the near future, the whole Nishijin textile industry can gain access to overseas markets. Now, they have started to share their knowledge and skills with weavers outside their own company. In the long run, Hosoo says, he wants to contribute to boosting the entire Japanese traditional craft industry. “Traditional craft products are created by the hands of many people, so we can’t monopolize what we’ve learned.”
Hosoo is convinced that traditional industries can be a growth industry. “It’s said that the kimono industry is in decay. But, if you look at it from another angle, you can say that the industry has thrived for 1,200 years. No one else in the world has the amount of accumulated knowledge that we do: the techniques, the materials and the stories behind them. We can offer those things to the rest of the world. All we need to do is to think about how to refine and deliver them.”
(photo: Kanan Yoshiyama)
Originally published at ignition.co.
