Year-Old Company Produces Clothing & Accessories With Designs By Japanese Tattoo Artist, Yoshihito Nakano (Horiyoshi III)#
Only one year after its founding, and weeks after securing $5 million in financing from the Milan-based investment group, Zyndy Trade Corp., the Japanese fashion company Horiyoshi Worldwide is set to enter the Chinese market, via a retail agreement with the Hong Kong high-end fashion chain THE SWANK. Based on the work of the Japanese tattoo artist Yoshihito Nakano (better known as Horiyoshi III), Horiyoshi Worldwide's brand, Horiyoshi the Third, is currently sold in around 45 stores in 25 countries. With its entrance into the Hong Kong market, via one of the city's best-known multi-brand chains, Horiyoshi the Third might find some new fans by way of the mainland Chinese tourist-shoppers who often flood the city looking for new brands that aren't yet sold in Shanghai or Beijing.
While low brand recognition and a broad preference for Western luxury brands could slow the brand's rapid adoption in Hong Kong, and although Horiyoshi the Third's tattoo-inspired designs (reminiscent of brands like Ed Hardy) might not appeal to many Chinese shoppers, a market, however niche, definitely exists -- again, via multi-brand stores -- for Yoshihito Nakano's urban-influenced style in Hong Kong and the Mainland. Last month, the Japanese streetwear brand BAPE opened its first mainland China location in Shanghai, in the heart of the city's swish Xintiandi neighborhood, and Vans debuted its higher-end OTW (Off the Wall) collection there this September. And in Beijing, the multi-brand I.T. Beijing Market -- conceived by Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo -- will open at the Sanlitun Village at the end of this month, carrying a range of high-end lines including Comme des Garçon (naturally), Azzedine Alaïa, Yves Saint Laurent, Ann Demeulemeester and...BAPE.
If urban-inflected Japanese brands like BAPE can make it in the mainland, maybe newer entrants like Horiyoshi the Third might have a better chance than we think.