On April 1st, the "Majotae - A Fabric the Japanese Have Forgotten" exhibition of hemp cloth (taimafu), developed by Avex as their first textile business, opened in the event space on the 7th floor of the main building of Isetan Shinjuku.
The venue is divided into three themes: past, present, and future. The past zone displays the "Japanese Natural Fabrics and Taimafu" collection by Shinichiro Yoshida, director of the Early Modern Azafu Research Institute and initiator of the project. In the present zone, men's custom-made suits using "Majotae" and the fabric itself are on sale. In the future zone, headpieces by Kamo Katsuya, shoes by Kushino Shinya, and clothing by Nakazato Yuima are on display in an installation format.
In response to the "mayotei" style expressions created by Tokyo's new generation of fashion creators, obi craftsman Yamaguchi Genbei, who realised the hemp cloth restoration project, reminisced, "What I've done up until now has been to revive the past, but what I wanted to do was make a proposal that connects it to the future. Hemp cloth has been used as a central material in Japan since ancient times, around 10,000 years ago, but it was only 400 years ago that it was replaced by cotton due to issues with industrialisation. Hemp cloth dominated the world for 9,600 years, and this is the first step in reviving hemp for the future. It took a long time to overcome the physical properties issues before we could create a product that could be sold in department stores, but this would have been difficult without the help of Yoshida (Shinichiro) from the scientific and academic sides." "Hemp cloth, which has been worn by Japanese people for 10,000 years, was technically perfected as the ultimate thread during the Edo period. This project is about recreating something that was handcrafted by humans as an industrial product using modern technology, and we are now at the starting line. Further research and development will continue from here," said Yoshida. "There has never been an example of hemp being industrialized before, so this project is truly a materials revolution. It is an important product in our efforts with the supply chain, and we are aiming to further utilize it in the fall and winter collections as well, so that customers will recognize its value. It is a new concept in natural fiber that Japan is proud of," said Taiyo Onishi, president of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, who visited the venue on the first day and expressed high expectations.
After four years of trial and error, Avex Group Holdings' Representative Director and CFO, Shigekazu Takeuchi, finally succeeded in commercializing the product. "Development took a long time due to issues with physical property testing and other factors, and we almost gave up many times along the way, but we've finally reached the starting line. We had many internal discussions about why a company like Avex should be working with hemp fabric, and this project is not just about product development and sales; it's a full-scale entry into the upstream textile business. It's based on our corporate spirit of securing master recording rights from the upstream stage in music production."
The grand dream of "switching the world's cotton market to hemp" (Yamaguchi) has finally rang, and the bell for big business has finally rung.
