On January 17, Atelier MEI and AS International announced the future business direction of the "araisara" brand. Aiming to expand sales of the brand globally, they will establish AS International (headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Munetoshi Baba) to handle manufacturing and sales of the brand. The company also plans to open a flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, between the end of March and April, followed by "opening stores in Paris, China, Malaysia, and India, in that order, in collaboration with selected local partners," according to President Baba. Furthermore, while the brand moved its collection presentation venue to Paris from the Spring/Summer 2013 season and received rave reviews from overseas journalists and buyers, designer Sara Arai explained that "presenting in Paris has once again strengthened my desire to share traditional Japanese craftsmanship from Tokyo with the world," and announced that it will return its presentation venue to Tokyo from the Fall/Winter 2013-14 season.

AS International's President Baba is an import business specialist who worked with Paris Haute Couture and New York designers at Yagi Tsusho, before going on to serve as president of Mulberry Japan and Mandarina Duck Japan. President Baba said, "I met Mr. Arai a year ago and was overwhelmed by his passion. I've been in the import business for a long time, but from now on I want to focus on sharing Japan's wonderful products with the world."

While there are an increasing number of fashion brands, especially men's fashion brands, that contract with overseas showrooms to sell wholesale, a business model that aims to operate directly managed stores overseas is extremely rare, and future developments will be closely watched.