Top Shop/Top Man opened their flagship shop in Shinjuku on 16 September. It’s situated in one of the best locations in Tokyo as Shinjuku station is the busiest station in the world with 3.46 million people using it daily.
This is the first time for Top Shop to open a store in Japan on a similar scale to their large UK stores.
Their opening night was a really well-conceived and interesting event, with music from UK artists including Rox, and DJs; exclusive Top Shop Shinjuku items; collaborations with bloggers, Japanese designers and creators; clothes and air ticket giveaways, etc. It was buzzing!
UKTI has been associated with Top Shop since they opened their first shop in Harajuku in 2008.
Top Shop plans to open two shops in Osaka next year and 4 more shops in Tokyo in the near future. They aim to open 10-15 shops by 2011, with 10-15 billion yen yearly turnover. Given Japanese consumers keen interest in fashion and their critical judgement, we understand that Top Shop think this is an important market to understand and succeed in, in order to expand their international business.
Reflecting the economic climate, “fast fashion” has become one of the major segments in the Japanese market. Successfully fast fashion brands in Japan include Uniqlo, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch and FOREVER21. H&M entered the Japanese market in 2008 and became popular because of their cutting edge style. Uniqlo has attracted customers with the outstanding functionality of their products.
The fashion market in Japan attracts much interest and we are expecting nearly 30 UK fashion companies on a trade mission in November. But of course we are available throughout the year to help UK companies wanting to enter this market, supporting them with advice, business introductions and market research.
Hisayo Aoki
Fashion Team, UKTI Japan
Hisayo.aoki@fco.gov.uk