Aiming for the continuous growth of domestic mills

Succeeding in overseas markets requires a dedication to true “Made-in-Japan” manufacturing, from the yarn to the finished product. This fall, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura will start full-fledged sales of jointly-produced dress shirts with an entirely domestic manufacturing team handling the entire production process – from the yarn spinning and weaving, to the dying, processing, sewing, and finishing work. Adding on to the line of shirts it has been selling for 24 years since its founding at the set price of 4,900 yen, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura will supplement its high-priced line-up with new products at the 7,900 yen to 8,900 yen price range, as well as a shirt line made of 400-thread-count cotton yarn that the company plans to sell for 18,000 yen. Company Chairman Yoshio Sadasue emphasised, “We want to become an ally to domestic manufacturing regions and mills by changing existing value structures from the distribution through the entire supply chain.”

Ultra-fine, 400-thread-count cotton yarn

The new push for new products at Maker’s Shirt Kamakura began when the company was seeking out luxury materials and discovered a 400-thread-count cotton yarn made by a domestic mill. Maker’s Shirt Kamakura gathered together companies possessing world-class facilities and techniques to create dress shirts produced entirely within Japan.

Collaborating with Maker’s Shirt Kamakura are Unitika Textiles Co., Ltd. (Tokiwa Mill, Okayama Prefecture), which is handling yarn spinning; Toban Textile Co., Ltd. (Nishiwaki, Hyogo Prefecture), which is handling weaving; Toyobo Co., Ltd. (Shogawa Mill, Toyama Prefecture), which is handling processing; and Okabe Sewing (Fukushima Prefecture) and Kitano Manufacturing (Fukuoka Prefecture), which are both handling sewing.

This project was selected as one of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) manufacturing supply chain reconstruction support projects. To that end, METI has already monitored a limited run of 500 shirts.

For the real start of sales this fall, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura has selected three to four types of fabric from a choice of twenty created using five types of yarn that were specially developed thanks to funds from the support project.

The company will develop a high-priced line of 150-thread-count, 3-ply cotton dress shirts at the 7,900 yen to 8,900 yen range using 100% Suvin Gold cotton, which is made of gold-rank (limited to the first and second pickings) Suvin cotton, which has the longest fibre length of any cotton in the world.

Maker’s Shirt Kamakura conducted repeated research into sewing methods and linings for its 400-thread-count, 4-ply cotton yarn dress shirts, solving issues of durability and transparency to create the final product. The company plans to set the price of these high-quality shirts at 18,000 yen, which should be affordable for most business people. In addition, the company has also developed a variation of these shirts for its next-generation, wrinkle-resistant Traveller line made of a 60-thread-count, 1-ply yarn that features a Suvin Gold covering over a polyester centre.

In addition, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura will start to make the Manhattan Model line of dress shirts (5,900 yen) in collaboration with the modelist Norimitsu Shibayama primarily with fabric made in the Nishiwaki region. Previously, the line was produced with fabric that was 70% produced in China.

Increasing mill wages through independent evaluations

Maker’s Shirt Kamakura will increase production of its 7,900 yen to 8,900 yen line of shirts intended to serve as a new standard for the next generation by 15% from the current level. Chairman Sadasue communicated his strong feelings on the subject, “We must contribute to an improvement and increase in wages if we are going to ask for a higher level of techniques from our mills.” To that end, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura has created a framework for the independent evaluation of each of the 14 domestic mills it partners with. The mills will be evaluated using a five grade system. This framework enables high quality mills to work together to raise wages.

Over the long run, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura aims to increase the number of shirts it exports to 3 million shirts per year, a total of three times its current domestic sales. Maker’s Shirt Kamakura completes 25% of its sales over the internet, an amount equivalent to approximately 1 billion yen, via e-commerce. Cross-border e-commerce accounts for around 60 million yen in sales within over 80 countries. The company plans to complete a Chinese language version of its website this fall. As it works to expand overseas exports, Maker’s Shirt Kamakura is taking the strong stance of boldly promoting the high quality of Japanese techniques to the world.