Made for Japan

Sitting in the buyers lounge at the WIFW,Kenji Yamashita,from Isetan,one of Japan’s leading department stores,talks through an interpreter. “There is a definitive shift in the buying pattern of the consumer. They no longer want to spend on lavish evening dresses. My store stocks premium as well as luxury brands,but women are buying more premium stuff now,” he said. Though he hasn’t placed any orders as yet,Yamashita spent considerable time at designer Ranna Gill’s stall. “The economic recovery in Japan is slow,but we are hoping that by the end of six months,the market will be looking up. We suffered as most storage houses were affected post-disaster,but that has been sorted now,” shared Yamashita.

Tomoko Inuzuka,who runs the boudoir kind store Beams in Tokyo,usually places orders with Namrata Joshipura and Manish Arora. This time,she has also placed orders with Puja Arya and young designer Niharika Sharma. “What we need now are stronger pieces — clothes that can pass off as day wear and evening wear,” she said.

Miki Saeko Kanoh,representative from Saaya,an upscale boutique in Tokyo,has been shutting her shop an hour earlier than usual since March. She works with dim lights and switches off the air-conditioner during power cuts. “It is important to keep the shop open to help those who are working with us,” says Kanoh.

Meanwhile,Mitsue Yamagishi,of Sun Motoyama,a famous clothing chain with its flagship store in Tokyo’s Ginza district,says that the market is climbing back to normalcy. “We had scheduled a sale two weeks before the Tsunami struck Japan’s coast. Sun Motoyama was the first store to go ahead with the sale. The response was superb and soon other stores followed suit,” said Yamagishi. She is here to stock the fall collection of Reynu Tandon,Ranna Gill,Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna. Has the Japanese consumer become cautions about money,post the disaster? “Our consumer is the rich spending class,businessmen and doctors,” says Yamagishi.