Saifuku has been producing high-quality knits for 57 years in Gosen City, Niigata Prefecture, which is known as one of Japan's leading knit production areas. We have been engaged in OEM (contract production) for apparel manufacturers, focusing on women's knitwear. In 2012, Saifuku launched its own brand, ``mino,'' and reached a new turning point. ``mino'' is a one-of-a-kind brand that produces knit ponchos inspired by ``mino'', which is reminiscent of this snowy region. Saifuku met Aya Sengoku of Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten when he was thinking of starting this brand. Brand manager Kanako Saito has carefully nurtured "mino" while receiving consulting from Sengoku and others.

Story: Kanako Saito

Saifuku was a company founded by my grandparents, and from that time its business centered on OEM for apparel manufacturers. In the past, there was a time when the company was so prosperous that it couldn't keep up with production, but when I joined this company over ten years ago, it was already becoming difficult to receive orders. There was a significant difference between busy and off-season periods, and there was an issue in leveling out factory operations throughout the year. Therefore, in 2012, we launched our own brand and launched ``mino'' in order to shift the direction to a system where we can control manufacturing ourselves.

However, we are a company that has continued to do business with many apparel manufacturers. I wanted to launch my own brand in a way that would allow us to coexist without competing with each other. Also, what I had noticed from looking at manufacturing in the apparel industry was that, like fresh food, product cycles were short. For the brand we were launching, we envisioned products that would be simple and could be used for many years without being influenced by trends. mino fit this idea perfectly.

Mino is winter clothing that has been a part of daily life in snowy countries since ancient times. In Niigata, some families have worn-out straw hats hanging from the eaves of their farms. We also visited the local museum, and while searching for old straw hats, we came across many different variations of straw hats. For example, if you go north of Niigata, you'll find that products made from the peeled bark of trees are used, and in colder regions, the materials will change. In this way, we traced the roots of ``mino'' and gained hints about its design and materials.

``mino'' was created by focusing on simple manufacturing. ``mino'' becomes a square when unfolded, but ``tate'' is a type of put-on knit fabric with a vertical slit cut from the center, ``yoko'' is a type of cover-up with a slit cut horizontally from the center of the knit fabric, and There are three types of ``nico'', which are worn with two holes in the ground. All of these items were created while keeping in mind the concept of simple manufacturing.

On the other hand, I sometimes felt that the appeal of knitwear could not be fully conveyed through the simple manufacturing of "mino." I gradually realized that the appeal of knitting lies in the complexity and depth of the threads and knitting methods. This idea has been realized through the newly launched comprehensive knitwear brand 226 (Tsutsumu).

This time, ``226 (Tsutsumu)'' is making a lot of miscellaneous goods with the theme of ``wrapping''. For example, under the theme of ``wrapping your life'', we gently wrap everyday items in knitted fabric to blend in with your interior. We also wrapped coffee cups bought at convenience stores in knitted fabric, with the message ``Wrap everything together.'' On the odd side, there are also things that can be used to wrap smartphones. If you wrap your smartphone, you won't be able to see the screen, but we created it with the idea of ​​a smartphone futon, where you can wrap your smartphone and give it a rest, like a digital detox.

At Saifuku, we have produced many patterns and threads over the past 57 years of manufacturing at our knitting factory. At ``226,'' we hope to utilize this vast archive to convey a new appeal of knitwear while creating items that we have never done before, such as miscellaneous goods and interior design.

We have been holding factory tours for some time now, and they are so popular that many people come from far away to visit Gosen City. Our manufacturing process is not like putting raw materials in an unmanned factory and then the product comes out from the other side, but there are a lot of hands involved, from person to person, so please come and see us. I am. We are really happy when we hear from impressed customers who say, ``I will wear it more carefully.''

In the future, I hope we can continue to flexibly change our manufacturing to suit the times and the needs of users.

→Next is Takuro Yatsu (Representative Director of IIE Co., Ltd.).

(Titles omitted)