Solo Act: Toray International Hosts In-house Show
Toray International knows how to put on a show. On June 22-23 in Tokyo’s fashionable Daikanyama district, the Japanese mill presented its newest products, blends and concepts for the season ahead at an in-house fair.
The show—Toray Intl.’s seventh—attracts more attendees each year, this year welcoming more than 200 visitors, spanning fabric producers and designer to marketing consultants and retail heads from local brands in search of premium fabrics with a high-end U.S. and European flavor. Yoshiki Yamada, Toray Intl. manager of the stretch materials and fiber department, said local Japanese brands continue to look to the West for style inspiration.
Under the theme “Back to the Origin,” Toray Intl. presented 130 fabrics, 150 garments and for the first time, raw materials that traced the garments’ stories back to wood chips, allowing visitors to learn more about the steps Toray Intl. takes as a fabric producer. The show was also an opportunity to communicate what it means to use a bionic fiber such as TENCEL® in denim.
Japan was the first market to introduce 100 percent TENCEL® chambray denim more than 20 years ago. Since then, Yuko Ikemura, Lenzing’s Japan business unit textile fibers marketing manager, said Toray Intl. has helped widen the use of TENCEL® across all types of applications and has helped spread the importance of sustainability in fashion.
“As Japanese denim brands are seeking new ideas and spice from the U.S. and Europe, Toray Intl. is providing solutions for them, helping to create new value and a robust jeans market for Lenzing fibers in Japan,” Yuko added.
Soft, stretch and lightweight fabrications continued to be hot topics at the show, requested by brands for both women’s and men’s collections. Yamada said the fabric qualities are becoming “genderless trends” in the premium denim market.
Approximately 30 percent of the fabrics presented at the show incorporated TENCEL®. Key items included MicroModal® AIR, Lenzing Modal® COLOR and TENCEL®MICRO with beautiful touches. Attendees were also given the opportunity to weigh the mill’s new super light polyester fiber, MIRACLEAIR®, designed to make fabrics lighter and keep the natural touch and moisture management deliver by Lenzing fibers.
General Manager of Toray International’s Fiber Department of Toray Intl. Hisaya Yamazoe said the event allows the company to focus on the denim customer, which he added is essential to business since there are no denim-specific shows in Japan. He said finding the right partners at traditional textile shows is difficult because the mill’s fabrics are at a premium price point. “By having our own in-house fair, we can have more intense discussions which leads to actual commercial result,” Yamazoe explained.