Founded in 1989 in Tokyo, UNITED ARROWS LTD. is a specialty retail company with its own unique fashion sense, providing designer brands and original menswear and womenswear as well as accessories and general goods. With fashion-conscious customers as their main target, there are 19 store brands with varying concepts and a total of over 230 stores across Japan.

This year, the company’s flagship brand, UNITED ARROWS business (UA) launched a new collection called “TÉGÊ UNITED ARROWS.” This is a brand and a project founded upon their partnership with EFI (Ethical Fashion Initiative), a segment of the International Trade Centre, offering a new approach not only to fashion but also to poverty reduction in disadvantaged communities.

EFI’s partners include leading designers Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, and many other notables. Through fair trading with these brands/designers, EFI empowers women in African countries and many other developing countries by generating work and allowing them to become micro-entrepreneurs. UA was one of the first Tokyo-based retailers to join Ethical Fashion Initiative. Hirofumi Kurino, co-founder and Senior Adviser for Creative Direction in UNITED ARROWS LTD., explains: “Colorful beadworks and textiles…I had been fascinated by African handicrafts for so long and I had been wishing that we did it ourselves.”

Hirofumi Kurino
Senior Adviser for Creative Direction, UNITED ARROWS LTD.
Born in 1953. Grown up in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. Strong interests in music and illustration in his Jr. and High school. Being placed himself in the Fashion Business field since 1977. As Senior Adviser for Creative Direction, he creates themes that are used across the whole company based on his global research and knowledge of social, cultural and artistic trends, as well as consumer trends and the latest product information. He is also involved in actual product planning and purchasing of some businesses.

How TÉGÊ was Born

In 2012, EFI talked with Kurino, who agreed to their concept to create truly fashionable items that satisfy both producers and customers; indeed, “ethnic” style is very important to UA. As Kurino states: “Ethnic style is a fashion that connotes nations’/tribes’ cultures, arts, and crafts.” The offer from EFI provided an opportunity for UA to create their own original items in Africa, which was what they had been dreaming about for so long.

This spring, UA has launched their brand with accessories such as necklaces and bags from Kenya, and menswear using original Burkina Faso textiles sewn and finished in Japan.

“Production delay” is one of the major problems that many brands suffer when working with the most marginalized countries. As is the usual case, textiles ordered from Burkina Faso are in delay. At first, UA were thinking of putting them out for sale by May; however, they are now expecting the sales date to be in July.

Such delays in production can cause serious problems for the apparel industry, especially those operating under the “2 seasons system” of spring/summer and autumn/winter. Therefore, if production is in delay, a company will miss a great opportunity for sales. This causes companies to hesitate to work with such countries; however, UA appear to think differently. Kurino says.

“We were saying that we should do away with the idea of SS/AW. When it is delivered it is delivered. Because we were just thinking that we should not stick too much with this season’s idea. The climate is changing and it is still very warm in October and still very cold in March here in Japan.

However, TÉGÊ’s items are just the right items and we can get away with that. For example, these suits can be worn until October even if you bought them in July. I think TÉGÊ’s range will be coming out with a lot of season-less items.”

Kurino underlines that he still thinks that quality control and appropriate delivery dates are very important for TÉGÊ’s growth. He adds that they need to maintain thorough communications with the EFI team in Africa.

Creating Together With Local Artisans

The original fabrics ordered in Burkina Faso were created through discussions among the three parties involved; that is, the UA team, EFI staff, and the Burkina Faso artisans. The local craftspeople have a large number of fabric samples, which Kurino speaks very highly of due to their “excellent taste in color.” While checking the samples, the team requests arrangements from the artisans as necessary by showing them color chips or fabric samples that they have brought. However, they don’t ask for interpreters’ or coordinators’ help as much as possible.

Kurino goes on to say that as follows.

“Even with poor English skills, talking directly to each other can carry our thoughts better. Even when I talk to local people who only speak Bambara, I believe that I can express my feelings better with gestures rather than talking to them through an interpreter, which is accurate only in terms of words. This is because I believe that the artisans’ goal is the same as ours. I think it’s more important to share the same goal rather than the language issues.”

To continually bring out high-quality products with a sense of culture is this company’s usual way of making things. Although TÉGÊ attracts attention in means of “ethical,” however, it was achieved in such a way as to turn a particular ethnic culture into an item by working with a group of partners who share the same goal of “making good products.” They respect one another.

UA say that they intend to visit these countries at least once a year to plan for the next new item. At the same time, they would like to expand this initiative to other locations such as Haiti and Palestine, where EFI works with.

“There are those who are in need in each region, and the respective region has traditional handcrafts that are passed down from generation to generation. We’ll go and visit anywhere if they match with what we’re looking for.”

The Next Fashion Stream Which Kurino Reads

Kurino is a co-founder and current Senior Adviser for Creative Direction in UNITED ARROWS LTD. He is highly respected both at home and abroad as a marketer who comprehensively captures the trends of the times in areas such as politics, economics, music, movies, and the arts (social stream). He predicts the upcoming value concept in fashion for the future as follows:

“I think it is a culture, that is to say, three things: 1) quality, 2) creativity, and 3) ethical.

Recent fashions have had good sales with marketing; such as ‘because it’s becoming popular’ or ‘because high-profile persons are wearing it.’ However, I see the end for this type of marketing. Future criteria for consumers to buy things will be something like ‘this is nicely made with good materials’ or ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before!’ Additionally, other factors such as ‘it’s not linked to pollution’ or ‘it doesn’t use child labor’ will become part of the criteria. According to movements on the world stage, I’m pretty certain about this.”

Kurino with local artisans, whom he think are ‘super fashionable’. He says he was very inspired by them, and says ‘Seeing how they dress, I felt I should be enjoying fashion more freely.’ (IMAGE: Courtesy of UNITED ARROWS)

Therefore, Kurino feels that “those who have been diligently facing clothes and their customers for many years will have a much better time in the future.” This is precisely because this company has focused and continued its business on the principle of “providing high-quality products with good service.”

“The products we carry at UA are all based on cultures. For instance, the quality of cottons, the quality of sewing…we have continued to sell items with ‘a fund of knowledge’ although I’m not fond of this phrase very much.

It’s been 25 years since UA was founded. In the interim, fashion consumptions have been rapidly changing. However, UA has constantly passed along its message of “quality” over that time. This is why it has continued to gain popular acceptance.

“How we convey our messages to our customers is absolutely our own agenda. The important part is the front of our store, so our sales personnel are our messengers. As long as our sales personnel understand the company’s passion, I’m sure it will be properly passed on to our customers.”