Japanese Teens Spending Less on Fashion

Posted on 5 Apr. 2010

There’s an interesting article in today’s WWD about the spending habits of Japanese teenagers. The piece brings up several interesting points, most of them implying negative trends for the Japanese fashion industry. (Unless, that is, you happen to be a lower priced “fast fashion” brand like H&M or Forever 21.)

The first part of the article discusses how the economy has taken money out of the pockets of Japanese teens by lowering the amount of allowance that their parents can afford to give them each month. You could call it trickle down economics – the kind that hurts!

Shibuya 109

Another point is made by the head of the company which owns the popular gal fashion brands Moussy and Sly. He says that it’s not just the economy but a changing culture that is hurting the youth fashion market. His theory is that young Japanese spend less time outside socializing than previous generations. Why? Because the current generation has many more options for entertainment – including the internet, television, video games, etc. If you don’t leave your house as often as you would have in the past, you don’t need as much expensive clothing.

The article also mentions Uniqlo’s new store in Shibuya, which is designed to be hip enough to attract the young Japanese shoppers who are into H&M and Forever 21. There’s a lot packed into the article, so we suggest that you get over to WWD and read the whole thing.

Comments are closed.

  1. This actually makes a point… I was thinking about Uniqlo, and the whole image-change it has been trough the last years and cheap (although overpriced) foreign brands coming to Japan, and this article somehow helped me.

  2. I wish Uniqlo established themselves in New Zealand, it would blow out all the New Zealand brands out of the water. :'(

  3. This..could be bad. If youth there decide to not care about fashion, this spells disaster for labels like 109. This could be potentially and extremely harmful to Japan’s economy due to just how integrated fashion is with it. It’s a big chunk of the market.

    But from a social aspect, who will be the leaders and innovators of fashion should Japanese youth cease spending so much on fashion and producing such avant garde outfits? It’ll be a sad day for international fashion indeed….

  4. That girl on the Version Up ad thing on the building looks like the actress Horikita Maki.Correct me if I’m wrong she just looks like it to me. But anyway,it could be bad,very bad if fashion isn’t as big of thing as it used to be. For big name brand companies that is.