3 Japanese sustainable fashion accessories for men 2023

In the last series of articles, I introduced the sustainability of Japanese fast fashion, focusing on Fast Retailing. On the other hand, in this series of articles, I introduce Japanese ethical fashion for men, choosing 3 brands you should check in 2023. Specifically, this article focuses on fashion “accessories,” made from various sustainable materials and with strong passion to pursue sustainability.

Caetla

Caetla is a brand which tackles Japanese throw-away culture in a unique way, through their production of “umbrellas”. They focus on “vinyl umbrellas” (typically seen in Japan), which is made mainly from vinyl and plastic and easily discarded because of its pretty affordable price. According to them, over 60 millions of this type of umbrellas are used, broken and discarded annually.

To change this tragic reality, they create totally sustainable umbrellas, “+TIC,” with their concept of “Manufacturing with awareness. Creating for our future.,” Their umbrellas are completely recyclable and can be repaired (thus, reusable) with replaceable fabric and parts. In addition, the significantly durable design of their products represents the brand’s sustainable mindset to value high-quality products and take good care of them.

In the last series of articles, I introduced the sustainability of Japanese fast fashion, focusing on Fast Retailing. On the other hand, in this series of articles, I introduce Japanese ethical fashion for men, choosing 3 brands you should check in 2023. Specifically, this article focuses on fashion “accessories,” made from various sustainable materials and with strong passion to pursue sustainability.

Plasticity

Plasticity also uses discarded umbrellas in Japan, which are mainly disposed of in landfills or burned up and not recycled, due to the difficulty of decomposing different materials. However, their products are recycled bags and other fashion accessories, instead of umbrellas.

The transition from discarded materials to the aesthetic design of their products is fantastic. Indeed, by pressing washed materials in their original method, they create a surprisingly beautiful design (called “Glass rain”), which looks like raindrops flowing through transparent window glass, representing the beautiful view of a rainy day. The materials originally used on rainy days are resistant to rain and dirt by nature, which means you can use their products carelessly.

Since they are focusing on the present problem of mass-consumption, their slogan is “the brand which should disappear in 10 years,” with the hope that the problem will be solved and the materials of their products will no longer be available.

eyeforthree

Sustainable brand, eyeforthree, is an example of Japanese “intrepreneurship” (projects created by internal employees who take an entrepreneurial role in companies). The unique eyewear brand has been resulted from a strong passion toward sustainability of an “intrepreneur” of ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

She is focusing on the discarded plastic from the pharmaceutical company, and creates eyewear from 100% recycled plastic from eye drops bottles to be abandoned (currently, the lineup includes sunglasses and blue light blocking glasses).

From the founder’s student experience of visiting slums in Asia, the brand is also trying to contribute to eye health worldwide, by donating a part of their sales to the offering of medical care and eyeglasses to people in poverty.

All the three brands are operating services where the brands interact with their customers and promote circular economy. Caetla offers hand-making (umbrellas) workshops with their products, and Plasticity offers an umbrella recycling program to exchange the customers’ umbrellas with rewarding shopping points, and “eye for green” offers a repair service for their products (not for free). I think these are the examples of ethical roles of businesses, and the brands need to keep improving their service to spread their concept and realize circularity, at least, for their products.