J Quality logo guarantees "made in Japan" quality for apparel

In a push to support clothes that were made in Japan, the Japanese garment industry supported by the Japan Fashion Industry Council, has introduced a new certification system called J Quality for clothes. To qualify, a product's entire manufacturing process (except the production of the raw materials) - from weaving textiles, knitting, dyeing and processing to sewing the finished garment - would have to have taken place in Japan.

This distinguishes them from "Japanese products" as defined by the Consumer Affairs Agency, which looks at the country where clothes were sewn as their country of origin even though the textiles and other processes may have been obtained elsewhere.

This classification has worried Japanese garment manufacturers, especially those making luxury or high-quality clothes, for some time now as their market has been shrinking due to rising imports. So far, a total of 135 types of products of 18 brands and 10 companies have been certified with the J Quality logo.

The first product to receive the new certification is the 100-year coat or “100nencoat” series by Sanyo Shokai Ltd., currently shown at Tokyo's Takashimaya department store, which retails for 76,000 yen (almost 640 US-dollars) and up. "These products have been received well by consumers of a wide range of ages from their 20s to 70s due to elaborate and detailed work,” said Yusuke Umemoto of the company's business division. “Such clothes are very rare, even among our company's brands.”

However, according to the Japan Textiles Importers Association, the number of garments made in Japan has been decreasing steadily while cheap imports flood the market. Last year, imported garments accounted for 97 per cent of all clothes.

Similar to the "made in Europe" movement in various European countries like the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands, Japanese textile products have been gaining support at home and abroad in recent years, according to the Japan News, with apparel companies even developing and promoting Japanese products individually.