The self-restraint from events and reduced opportunities to go out due to the pandemic has spurred a shift away from kimonos.
According to analysis by Kyoto Marubeni Corporation (Kyoto), a kimono manufacturing and sales company of the Marubeni Group, the kimono market peaked at approximately 1.8 trillion yen around 1980 and has continued to decline. Due to the impact of the coronavirus, the market was about 240 billion yen last year, 14% less than it was in 2019, the year before the COVID-19. Compared to its peak, it's now less than one-seventh of its value.
Sales of yukata, popular summer outfits, shrank from around 10 billion yen before the novel coronavirus pandemic to about 3 billion yen. Sales of Homongi or visiting kimonos for married women also fell by 20-30% to approximately 55 billion yen due to voluntary restrains and cancellations of parties and other events.
The background to the decline in kimono wearers is a decrease in opportunities to wear them, the difficulty of dressing them, and their high price. There're many one-of-a-kind items, such as hand-painted yuzen, which are hand-dyed by craftspeople, and this is further compounded by a shortage of craftspeople due to the ageing of the workforce and the rising cost of raw materials.
Another factor that prevents a wider customer base is that it's difficult to understand the value of different materials, such as different prices for the same pattern, depending on the material.
The company is also working on developing affordable products and kimonos that are easy to put on, in an attempt to increase the kimono population.
Kazuo Haji, Sales Director says: "There must be more people who want to choose traditional Japanese kimonos for ceremonies. We'd like to offer products that meet their needs and preserve kimono culture.
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