JFW Japan Creation

INDEX[1] Thank you for your support! Premium Textile Japan 2023 Spring/Summer

Greetings - Visitor numbers on the recovery path!

Hiroshi Komoda, Senior Director, JFW

<Premium Textile Japan (PTJ) 2023 Spring/Summer>, was held over two days at the Tokyo International Forum/Hall E-1 and ended safely on May 26. As the show was held amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all possible preventive measures were taken, including safety regulations. We are pleased to announce that visitor numbers rose (115% over the previous year), which is a clear sign of recovery. Our sincere thanks to all attendees for their cooperation and support.

In terms of exhibitors, the scale remained almost unchanged, with 72 companies participating over 92.5 booths. Despite being on a smaller scale than the May 2019 fair, the last before COVID 19, we think the show was a breath of fresh air, particularly given the participation of four new exhibitors, which spawned successful and enthusiastic business negotiation throughout. Fortunately, no further state of emergency or similar measures were implemented during the show and the rules for wearing masks were also loosened accordingly, which helped encourage more visitors from outside the capital.

Nonetheless, immigration restrictions meant the severe limitations on overseas visitors regretfully persisted. During the fair, one of our visitors was an evacuee from Ukraine, who visited our show in search of business opportunities in Japan. We believe boosting the number of overseas visitors would certainly help revitalise both our events and efforts to expand the export of Japanese textiles.

With digitalisation in mind, the <JFW Textile Online Salon (JTO)> was newly launched from May 2021 onwards and paved the way to promote stand-out fabrics from each company online and on an ongoing basis, beyond the show period alone. Similarly, the <Sustainability Project> continues. Despite the current severe circumstances and upward cost pressures virtually across the board, including raw materials, energy and distribution, certain visitors said they felt reinspired: ‘We would like to participate in the fair as an exhibitor next time.’ With comments like these in mind, we will redouble our efforts to organise a fulfilling fair.

Our upcoming shows: < Premium Textile Japan 2023 Autumn/Winter > and < JFW JAPAN CREATION 2023 > will be held at the Tokyo International Forum/Hall E over November 1-2, 2022. Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to your visit.

Reconsidering remedial measures going forward

Akira Kawashima, Executive Director, JFW/Textile Division

This edition of the show revealed certain signs of recovery in visitor numbers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the second day. However, exhibitor numbers had still declined by 20% decrease compared with pre-COVID-19 shows, reflecting its serious impact on the textile industry. Although recent governmental measures to loosen mask-wearing rules and accept incoming tourists once again could indicate some green shoots of recovery in our new-normal ‘co-existing with COVID 19’ era, we cannot expect a rapid recovery in exhibitor numbers. What we must focus on instead is enhancing the satisfaction of exhibitors, who continue to support and participate in our PTJ fair, despite the challenging circumstances.

For example, we should reconsider how we allocate booth locations for regular participants by prioritising in some cases instead of deciding via an online lottery. I also consider it crucial to revisit conventional practices including such a system for the next edition going forward. Meanwhile, although our regular <Textile Workshop – Let’s learn Japan fabrics> program, supporting HR development, targets would-be textile professionals, the present criteria, namely younger employees (with fewer than five years’ working experience), must be reconsidered with improvement in mind.

Our PTJ show tends to receive more visitors on the second day than the first and the same applies to the upcoming JFW-JC and PTJ shows to be held concurrently in November. One of our challenges is how best to boost first-day visitor numbers. Equally important is how we pivot to attract more overseas visitors (19 countries and regions on this occasion) in the post-COVID era. These and many other tasks remain to be tackled for our upcoming events.

INDEX[2] - Changes clearly visible - <PTJ2023SS> ended safely.

The <PTJ2023 Spring/Summer> event ended safely on May 26, 2022. We welcomed a total of 71 exhibitors, including three new participants and three overseas companies. The breakdown was as follows: 31 entries for staples, 18 entries for filaments, 14 entries for dyeing/finishing/prints/embroidery & leather and a further eight entries for supporting materials, knitted fabrics, twisted yarns and pile fabrics.

One of the new exhibitors; Mipox Corporation, joined the fair to promote multicoloured reflective materials to the fashion industry. These ground-breaking products saw the company attract numerous visitors who praised the innovation on show, Meanwhile repeat exhibitors did their best to attract visitors back to their booths. There were many individual approaches in evidence, which led to a healthy number of business wins following the positive and spirited negotiations that ensued throughout the venue.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of the positive feedback we received from numerous exhibitors: ‘Demand for domestic (Japan-made) products is increasing and we are getting business opportunities due to the influence by the long-lasting lockdown in Shanghai.’ (MASHI SHOKAI CO., LTD.), alongside changes reflecting the Post-COVID-19 lifestyle and loosening rules governing the wearing of masks: ‘More buyers are sourcing vivid-tonality.’ (UNI TEXTLE CO. LTD.), ‘More positive comments were heard compared with the past.’ (SAIEI ORIMONO CO., LTD.), ‘We got the impression many visitors were back after a long while.’ (FURUHASHI WEAVING CO., LTD.), ‘Finally, great crowds were back at the venue.’ (ITONONE), ‘It was the most crowded edition in recent years and we could engage in successful negotiations.’ (MIZOROGI & CO., LTD.). One other comment reflected the changes: ‘We intentionally proposed fabrics in exciting and motivating colours.’ (NORITAKE).

Meanwhile, the PTJ-related program; <Textile Workshop - Let’s learn Japan fabrics. > was established as the final edition in a three-part series highlighting ‘sustainability’. A large audience attended the lectures: < Food Textiles Leveraging Food Residues > (by Mr. Yoshihiro TANIMURA, from TOYOSHIMA & CO., LTD.), alongside < Sustainability with synthetic fibres and company’s initiatives ’ (by Ms. Mito YOKOKAWA from TORAY INDUSTRIES INC.)