The flagship store of the women's general merchandise fast fashion brand Charles & Keith, scheduled to open on April 4th and 6th, was unveiled to the press. The Singapore-based brand already has over 300 stores in 31 countries, primarily in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its main products are shoes and bags, and it sells only general merchandise. To enter the Japanese market, Charles & Keith Japan was established through a joint investment between Onward Holdings and the Charles & Keith Group. The first store opened at LaLaport Yokohama on March 20th. We spoke with Jun Kagaya, who oversees Onward's European business and has recently been appointed president of the Japan branch. "At Onward, we are currently focusing on moving away from wholesale and strengthening our retail presence, strengthening our operations in commercial facilities outside of department stores, strengthening our sales channels, and strengthening our general merchandise offerings. Charles & Keith is a brand that truly encompasses all of these areas. Our Singapore-based representative persuaded us, and we finally reached this opening after more than a year," he said.

The flagship store is located on the first floor of Harajuku YM Square (4-31-10 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), opposite H&M and Forever 21. "It's an ideal location. Our store opening strategy in our home country is to open in areas where these global fast fashion brands have stores, aiming for coexistence and mutual prosperity. We do this all over the world. When entering Japan, we hired a Japanese designer to strengthen our winter merchandising, which is not available in Singapore. We want to follow the methods of our home country as much as possible and incorporate them into Onward," said Kagaya.

A store will open in Umeda OPA in late April. The company aims to open 40 stores, mainly in malls, over the next three years.