iQON's monthly user base has surpassed one million. Sales have increased 150-200% month-on-month, and the number of users is currently growing at a rate of more than 10,000 per month. In this final installment, we explore the relationship between social media and fashion brands, delving into the future fashion structure that this will create.


--Your company operates a social media service. What is the relationship between social media and fashion brands?

I believe that the movements and ways of thinking of young people today are nurtured by social media. It's a chaotic place where each person expresses themselves, and there's probably no way to control this world. However, what can be said is that social media, a place where each person can enjoy expressing themselves, will become increasingly sought after and will become a part of people's lifestyles. I believe that fashion brands will also need to use social media to integrate into people's lifestyles.

On the other hand, fashion brands have controlled their image and worldview. As a result, they have been forced to present their products in a "top-down" style. However, in reality, consumers mix and match styles without being bound by brand.

--So, while social media is effective in rooting fashion in lifestyles, the chaos of social media can be a disadvantage for brands.

That's right. However, I believe there is a way forward. Japanese people have an excellent sense of brand mixing. I think Japanese people have an outstanding sense of fashion coordination, and I think that only Japanese people can pull off the style of going to Shimamura with a Louis Vuitton bag or pairing a Gucci suit with Stan Smiths for a more dressed-down look. I heard that rapper Kanye West copied his style of pairing a casual hoodie with a formal jacket from Japanese street fashion. How this kind of media content is presented is extremely important.

In the first place, very few people in real life wear a single brand from head to toe, and even on iQON, brand-mix outfits are popular with users. In other words, there are positive aspects to brands' "unintended presentations." So, while brands will naturally have some things they cannot compromise on, I hope they will value the "variety" that comes from unintentional efforts. Trying to control how something is presented makes it difficult to integrate into people's lifestyles.

--In order to integrate fashion into lifestyles, brands should give up on controlling their image.

I believe it's important to distinguish between areas where you control and areas where you don't. While brands should continue to prominently showcase their brand's unique worldview and the image they want to project on their own websites and in-stores, they should leave it up to users to express themselves on social media platforms like iQON and blogs. Rather than focusing solely on the negative aspects of users' influence, we should focus on effectively utilizing the positive aspects.

Change is absolutely necessary in Japan's fashion industry today, even if it means some pain. If no measures are taken to address the decline in fashion information share, the time and money people spend on fashion will steadily decrease. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, social games may take up all of that. Social games are carefully designed systems. They are highly speculative, directly linked to payments, and provide instant enjoyment. The entire fashion industry needs to think about and provide even greater joy than this. What I don't want people to forget is that the fundamental power of "fashion" has never changed. I believe the joy of going out on the town in new clothes is the same today as it was 10 years ago. All we need to do is increase the amount of information we receive and send out. We need to reach young people, the people who will be spending money in the future. And ideally, iQON would like to be the first to play that role. We need to let them experience the glamour and joy of fashion at an early stage and encourage them to adopt a lifestyle that values fashion. No one wears a single brand from head to toe, and we live in an age where uncontrollable social media creates movements. The fashion industry also needs to adapt flexibly to this era. --If brands lose control, won't the industry's structure change? Yes. That's right. That's what we're aiming for. iQON accumulates vast amounts of data on users' hobbies and preferences based on their behavioral history. What kind of users want what brands, colors, and sizes of items, when, and how do they actually behave? Leveraging this data is our future goal. For example, the behavioral history of users on iQON, where they edit clothes created by a brand, can provide hints for the brand's product development and VMD. Going further, this could mean a shift from the current top-down approach, where fashion trends originating from collections permeate the entire market, to a bottom-up approach, where brands are given feedback on current consumption trends. Of course, I'm not saying that all brands should do this. However, I believe the overall structural change in the fashion industry, from top-down to bottom-up, is inevitable.

--Finally, what does fashion mean to you, Mr. Kanayama?

Fashion is very important to me. I still remember the excitement and desire to look cool the first time I wore jeans and sneakers I bought with my own money. I want all men to look cool and women to look even more attractive. Fashion plays a large role in achieving this.

I think Japanese fashion is truly amazing, and it's undoubtedly a competitive force in Asia. Southeast Asia is currently experiencing remarkable economic growth, but for many people in Southeast Asia, clothing, out of the three basic necessities of life, is more of a physical protection, not a fashion. However, in the near future, as these people gain more time and money, the moment will surely come when protection will become fashion. Japan must not miss this opportunity. At that time, I hope that iQON will function as a launching pad for Japanese fashion and make a major contribution to the rapid growth of Japanese fashion.


[Profile of Hiroki Kanayama] Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and graduated from Ritsumeikan University's School of Policy Science. While still a student, he performed with a band on the Red Marquee Stage at Fuji Rock Festival in 2000. After graduating from university, he worked for music ventures before joining Yahoo! in 2007. After working as the launch manager for Yahoo! FASHION and X BRAND, he became the representative director of VASILY Inc. in 2009. VASILY currently operates the fashion coordination app "iQON."