SOU SOU - Japanese-style modern designs expanding into the US through affiliation w/ Japanese agents

The Wakabayashi Corporation that has its headquarters in Kyoto Prefecture established the brand SOU SOU in 2002. With the concept 'Modern design centered on Japanese traditions,' the company sells tabi, including original domestically-produced split-toe tabi shoes, as well as apparel, textiles, furniture, and general goods. The company affiliated with 'NEW PEOPLE, Inc.' in San Francisco, targeting U.S. expansion of the SOU SOU brand. The company's goal is to seek the 'now' of Japanese culture and circulate it and it is expanding sales in the U.S. market.

The company opened its first overseas store in the NEW PEOPLE commercial complex in San Francisco's Japantown in August 2009 and also established an English-language internet shop at that time. In this four-level commercial complex, one can find shops that reveal Japanese clothing, food and housing culture as well as a movie theater and gallery that introduce the Japanese art scene, making it the origination of Japanese pop culture into the U.S. Seiji Horibuchi of NEW PEOPLE founded VIZ Media in 1986, a Japanese manga and anime company in San Francisco and is a veteran businessman of an overseas business that significantly expanded the Japanese manga and anime market in North America.

Before joining forces with NEW PEOPLE, SOU SOU independently expanded by distributing tabi to the museum shop at the New York Museum of Modern Art, but had not considered full-fledged store expansion. However, the company received an earnest offer from Horibuchi of NEW PEOPLE, so they established a cooperative-type base in San Francisco and started full-fledged expansion in the U.S. NEW PEOPLE acts as the agent and is responsible for all duties from operations to sales at the retail store and the English-language internet shop, to wholesale, distribution, and accounting, including the collection of bills.

The foundation of SOU SOU is small-lot production, so NEW PEOPLE set up a cooperative system with SOU SOU on the Japan side so that NEW PEOPLE can grasp the details of the confirmation of Japanese stock and order timing. Employing sales associates and personnel training are handled on the NEW PEOPLE side. For that reason, the manager of the San Francisco store periodically takes business trips to Japan with meetings at the SOU SOU headquarters and inspections of the factory are always undertaken, creating a system such that he can provide service based on equal knowledge with those on the Japan side. In the 'Weekly NEW PEOPLE' corner of the SOU SOU Japanese website, the San Francisco store manager writes in blog form about the customers who visit the store and the town conditions, sending information to the Japanese market and performing PR for the brand in Japan and the U.S. simultaneously.

SOU SOU creates designs for modern Japanese-style footwear and apparel that can be worn casually and has made innovative proposals to the Japanese fashion world. The special characteristics of these products are the key to acquiring customers in the U.S. as well as in Japan. Wakabayashi said, "By selling products that can only by obtained at SOU SOU, we have departed from other apparel brands and have acquired a core of repeat customers. For that reason, we have been able to obtain their trust and appreciation for our quality and designs." Just like the customers in Japan, the reactions of the customers in the U.S. have been taken to be positive. "We have a lot of customers in their mid-30s up through their 50s who have consumer power and insight and who have gone the circuit of 'fashionable.' They highly regard the reliability and functionality of the SOU SOU designs."

Horibuchi said, "Japan has Japanese designs and creating those has become a tradition. As a Japanese creator, it is important to produce something from the production areas throughout Japan. There are techniques that have been cultivated since long ago for that and they have appropriate prices. If it is possible to use old techniques and sell the products at appropriate prices, that leads to the continuance of those traditions."

Every summer, NEW PEOPLE hosts the J-POP Summit Festival ^*Note and fashion brand shows and lectures by designers are held by local famous people and there are many venues for explaining unique Japanese products and performing PR. Through such events, it is possible to communicate to many Americans about dressing with the company's products, the background of the products, and about the craftsworkers' techniques. Making the store the core of the business, sales on the website and PR at events are undertaken in conjunction with the U.S. agent. These efforts by SOU SOU are highly suggestive for Japanese corporations trying to expand overseas sales outlets.

* Note: The J-POP Summit Festival is an event hosted by NEW PEOPLE and sponsored by the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco and local Japanese businesses. It is held in San Francisco's Japan Town and approximately 60,000 people visit. Over two days, J-pop concerts, fashion shows, contests, and art exhibits are held along with the sale of goods and food.