Japan's Zozo, using measurement taking bodysuit, expands bespoke service (updated)
03/07/2018 07:31
* Zozo adding business suits to its private clothing line
* Skintight Zozosuit bodysuit used to create made-to-measure
items
* Japanese suit retailers' shares fall on the news
(Adds share movement, quote, background)
By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - Japanese online fashion retailer
Zozo said on Tuesday it was expanding its offer of
made-to-measure clothes using skintight bodysuits which help
customers upload their measurements online.
Zozo, which operates Japan's popular shopping site Zozotown
and is officially called Start Today Co Ltd 3092.T , sells
clothes from other brands. But it sees the future of online
fashion retail in bespoke services, and has set up a
made-to-measure service using the bodysuit, called the Zozosuit.
By photographing themselves wearing the skintight polka-dot
Zozosuit, users can upload their body measurements to ensure a
perfect fit for the clothes that they order.
"The time where people adapt to clothing is over, this is a
new era where clothes adapt to people," said Zozo Chief
Executive Yusaku Maezawa.
Zozo said it was adding business suits and formal shirts to
its private clothing line, taking orders from Tuesday. The suits
will retail for a limited time at 21,900 yen ($197.60), with a
regular price of 39,800 yen.
The company is on track to ship a million Zozosuits to
customers by the end of July, Maezawa said, its second such suit
after the first attempt was hit by production delays and high
costs.
The Zozosuit and some private clothing line items are also
available in 72 countries outside Japan. Maezawa sees overseas
growth as key to the success of the private clothing line.
Online fashion mall Zozotown's foray into selling into China
earlier in the decade ended after less than two years.
Success could see Zozo putting further pressure on Japan's
fashion retailers hit by decades of price pressures. Shares of
suit retailers Aoki Holdings Inc 8214.T and Aoyama Trading Co
Ltd 8219.T fell more than 7 percent after the news.
Following Maezawa's comments that Zozo was considering
working with Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd 6222.T , whose whole-garment
knitting machines can produce seamless items of clothing, that
company's shares jumped as much as 16 percent in afternoon Tokyo
trade.
Maezawa, a former drummer in a punk band, grabbed headlines
last year when he bought a Basquiat for a record $110 million,
adding to his collection of contemporary art.
($1 = 110.8300 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey in Tokyo; Editing by Gopakumar
Warrier)
((sam.nussey@thomsonreuters.com; +81364411596; Reuters
Messaging: sam.nussey.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))