Onward and upward with wool in Japan

Onward Kashiyama is one of the largest apparel groups in Japan with annual turnover of A$2 billion in 2023. AWI has been building a good relationship with Onward since 2018 when AWI arranged for two of the Japanese group’s general managers to visit wool-growing properties in Australia.

The visit has led directly to an increased use of Australian Merino wool by Onward’s brands, and Onward undertaking marketing campaigns with AWI subsidiary Woolmark in Japan, initially in 2019, then 2021 and 2022, and now 2024.

The latest marketing collaboration ran for two months during the recent autumn/winter season, to promote Woolmark-certified Merino wool knitwear and coats from Onward’s four leading womenswear brands: 23KU, Jiyu-ku, iCB, and J-Press Ladies.

The recent joint collaboration with Japanese apparel group Onward Kashiyama involved four womenswear brands and a popular footwear brand.

Woolmark-certified wool rich shoes from Onward’s popular footwear brand Steppi were also promoted this season. The Steppi brand is well known for its very light and comfortable knitted women’s business and casual shoes. For the first time they are available in a wool variation, adding warmth, moisture-wicking, and odour resistant properties to an already successful product. They are the first Woolmark-certified shoes to be launched in the Japanese market.

Wool rich knitted shoes from Steppi

The joint promotion of the five brands’ wool products was Woolmark’s largest-ever collaboration with Onward. More than 125,000 wool rich items were promoted, which is a 3.3% increase from last year, resulting in sales of wool products worth more than A$18 million.

“It is very rewarding to see the effort that AWI puts into educating and inspiring Onward about Australian Merino wool is resulting in its brands increasing their use of the fibre in their apparel ranges, and now expanding into footwear.”

Samuel Cockedey, AWI Regional Manager Japan & Korea

The campaign focused on positioning Merino wool as the natural fibre of choice for Japanese women’s premium apparel and footwear, while also promoting the quality and comfort aspects of Onward’s Woolmark-certified Merino wool products.

As well as a growing interest in sustainability, Onward has a strong focus on increasing its digital sales. The collaboration therefore focused on digital and social media promotion to drive traffic to dedicated landing pages on Onward’s e-commerce platform. This included dedicated e-newsletters sent to 1.7 million customers. Key visuals for the campaign were jointly produced by Woolmark and Onward. The campaign generated more than 13 million impressions (the number of times the campaign was seen).

The campaign also gained additional visibility through the use of signage and display material in 350 of the brands’ brick-and-mortar stores across Japan.

This article appeared in the Winter 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in June 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.