Hot Labels in Japan Fail to Cross Oceans 日本潮牌未能進軍海外

       曾經出遊至東京，並且在東京街頭逛過街的時尚迷或許都有同樣的感覺-其實日本有很多我們從沒看過但卻精緻且富有設計感的品牌，但為甚麼在國際市場上始終不見蹤跡呢？專家說，日本時尚業太零散、太著重本國市場，無法進軍海外。而成功進軍國際市場的Uniqlo執行長柳井正，卻早有先見之明:我們是全球經濟的一環，不能光看本國市場。

By Hiroko Tabuchi

TOKYO – Japan’s trailblazers of street fashion are the envy of Western designers, spawning Web sites filled with snapshots of Tokyo youngsters in the latest distressed jeans or psychedelic stockings.
日本街頭時尚先驅催生大量網站，站上滿是東京年輕人穿著最新款破舊牛仔褲或迷幻長襪的照片，讓西方設計師艷羨不已。

But most of Tokyo’s clothing designers have not figured out how to cash in on the city’s fashion sense. Experts say that the nation’s fashion industry is too fragmented and too focused on the domestic market to make it overseas.
但東京大多數服裝設計師還沒有想出來，如何才能利用東京的時尚感大發利市。專家說，日本時尚業太零散、太著重本國市場，無法進軍海外。

“For much of this decade, fashion trends have started in Japan and gone global. But Japanese brands don’t even realize that,” said Loic Bizel, a French-born fashion consultant based in Tokyo. Japan “generates trends and ideas, but it stops there,” he said. “Many brands are not even interested in going overseas.”
生於法國、在東京工作的時尚顧問羅亞‧畢哲說：「這10年間大半時候，時尚興起於日本，再傳遍全球。但日本服飾品牌業者竟渾然不覺。」他說，日本「帶動趨勢和觀念，但也就停在這兒。許多品牌甚至對進軍海外興趣缺缺。」

So each season, Mr. Bizel takes fashion industry buyers from America and Europe to buy up bagfuls of the latest hits. The designs are then reworked and sold under Western labels.
因此，每一季畢哲都帶歐美來的時尚業買家，採購一袋袋最新流行服飾，這些產品修飾過後，掛上西方品牌銷售。

In 2008, Japan’s clothing and apparel-related exports came to a mere $416 million, dwarfed by the $3.68 billion exported by American apparel companies, and a tiny fraction of China’s $113 billion.
2008年，日本成衣和相關產品出口額僅有4.16億美元，遠不及美國成衣業36.8億美元的出口額，和中國的1130億美元相比，更是微不足道。

The government is trying to help. Last year, the Foreign Ministry appointed three young trendsetters as “ambassadors” of Japanese chic.
日本政府正設法幫忙。外務省去年任命3名引領潮流的美眉為日本時尚「可愛大使」。

One ambassador, Misako Aoki – a model known in Tokyo for her Lolita look of frilly Rococo-inspired dresses paired with platform shoes – has been dispatched to France,Spain, Russia and Brazil, where she has attended expos and hosted fashion talk shows. 
可愛大使之一青木美沙子是東京的模特兒，以洋娃娃的外型、洛可可蓬裙配厚底麵包鞋造型聞名，已被派赴法國、西班牙、俄國和巴西，參加多項展覽，並主持時尚脫口秀。

The trade ministry has also helped revamp the twice-yearly Tokyo Collection and started inviting foreign journalists to come on the government’s money. For the first time this year, the collection, renamed Japan Fashion Week, sponsored a splinter fashion event inNew York, and it has planned another runway show in New York in mid-February.
經濟產業省也協助革新每年兩次的東京時裝周活動，並開始以公費邀請外國記者參加。更名為日本時裝周的這項活動，今年首度贊助紐約一項分支時裝活動，並醞釀2月中旬在紐約舉辦另一場服裝秀。

But the government’s efforts have won it few fans in the fashion industry. Besides Ms. Aoki, the two other fashion ambassadors are a woman who wears cute high school uniforms and another who mixes and matches secondhand clothes. Promoting such niche tastes does little to help the wider fashion industry, many say. 
但日本政府的努力在時裝業沒有獲得多少共鳴。青木之外的兩位可愛大使，一位穿的是可愛高中制服，另一位則把二手服飾混搭著穿。許多人說，推廣這種分眾品味對整個時裝業幫助不大。

And Japan Fashion Week remains a relative nonevent filled with relatively obscure designers. Ambitious young designers hoping to follow in the footsteps of Japanese greats like Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo may have to do what they did: pass over Tokyo’s shows for those in Paris.
此外，日本時裝周參加的都是些小咖設計師，活動乏善可陳。胸懷大志，想要踵武三宅一生、山本耀司、川久保玲等日本大師的年輕設計師，或許也得像這些前輩一樣，略過東京的時裝展，朝巴黎進軍。

What Japan’s fashion industry needs is more concrete help in marketing and setting up shop overseas, and protecting their intellectual property rights, experts say. 
專家表示，日本時裝業需要的，是在行銷和海外設店方面獲得更多幫助，且智慧財產權獲得保護。

There are some promising signs. With government support, the start-up Xavel, which runs fashion shows that let women order outfits in real time using their cellphones, has opened shows in Paris and Beijing.
目前已有前景可期的跡象。新創設的Xavel公司在政府輔助下，已在巴黎、北京開秀。這家公司經營可讓女性以手機即時下單訂購服裝的時裝秀。

Fast Retailing, which sells the Uniqlo brand, has made inroads overseas. Uniqlo does not have the level of respect among young fashion fans that many of Japan’s hipper brands do, but it has expanded, with 92 stores worldwide. 
販售Uniqlo牌服飾的「快速零售公司」已搶進海外市場。Uniqlo受年輕粉絲喜愛的程度比不上日本許多潮牌，但事業愈做愈大，全球有92家分店。

Tadashi Yanai, chief executive of Fast Retailing, has said he hopes to build it into the world’s biggest apparel company. 
快速零售公司執行長柳井正說，希望該公司成為全球最大的服飾業者。

“We are part of a global economy,” Mr. Yanai said at a recent forum. “We cannot look inward.”
柳井最近在一場座談會中說：「我們是全球經濟的一環，不能光看本國市場。」 

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/global/02cool.html 

2010-01-26/聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 夏嘉玲 原文請見1月26日紐時周報八版下