After decades of those with large busts finding it nearly impossible to find attractive let alone comfortable underwear, major Japanese manufacturers finally got the message that not catering to a wide group of women was an affront to all.
It is a curious double standard that people rarely hold fashion designers responsible for alienating women whose breasts won’t fit into dresses, but they do with underwear. The need for validation at an intimate level strikes a personal chord, and together with Japanese bust sizes being on the increase due to changes in diet, this was a relatively natural shift in the market.
What got left out of this conversation was women toward the smaller side, largely because it is possible to wear a bra that is too big whereas the reverse is not true. A handful of brands like Feast Lingerie popped up in the last decade trying to fill the A and AA cup niche, and, to be fair, some highstreet names like Risa Magli and Wacoal’s subsidiary Une Nana Cool have started to include in their lineups both smaller cups as well as the all-important slimmer underbust measurements.
This is the new battleground — as indicated by mainstream brand Intesucre from Odakaya announcing in October it is going as slim as a 60-centimeter underbust. From a Western market perspective, that measurement is reserved for extra-small corsetry, but for the Japanese market, it is an overdue necessity, a belated response to decades of women who made do with loose bras. According to Intesucre, the opening of the market to niche sizes all the way to K, which are less profitable due to the lack of demand but are necessary as an inclusive gesture, began this conversation about bras at the A and under end of the spectrum.
This is all part of a larger movement to rethink undergarments from a female-centric perspective. Be-A Japan and its range of absorbent menstruation underwear shot to success on Campfire before achieving great mass-market success, including high-profile department store placements. The company also recently revealed underwear with wearable biometric tracking tech as part of Femtech Tokyo held from Oct. 5 to 6 at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center.
Be-A Japan’s washable underwear with integrated sensors and detachable transmitters allows users to keep track of their monthly flow using a dedicated app — a world-first that can be used to detect potential health issues. According to its developers, the garment is primarily a way for women to gain a greater understanding of their natural rhythms and start to see patterns month by month.
This kind of wearable tech is niche by nature, so if you’re not instantly seeing the benefits, then it probably isn’t for you. Still, the ongoing integration of sensors into clothes to monitor sweat and other fluids has a wide application beyond “femtech,” so you will probably cross paths with it within the decade. The period tracking underwear itself is in the late stages of development and is set to be trialed later this year.
Sole passions
Elsewhere this month, we are seeing some hyped but very niche footwear drops. First up is rough-and-ready Japanese brand Neighborhood, which has teamed up with Vans for some subdued suede sneakers designed to scuff with style. The highlight, though, is an accompanying ceramic sneaker exclusively available at Isetan Men’s that is double billed as a vase or incense burner in a pleasantly worn chalky white. At ¥18,700 (including tax), it is actually more expensive than the wearable shoes in the collection, but for the right fan, it will occupy a place of pride in their genkan (entrance space in homes).
Elsewhere, Onitsuka Tiger is aiming for pop culture nostalgia through a collaboration with Urusei Yatsura, a celebrated manga and anime popular through the late ’70s and ’80s. To coincide with a reboot of the anime, no less than 40 years after the original aired, the fiery protagonist Lum’s iconic tiger print clothing finds itself on a capsule collection of streetwear and sneakers. The 2022 remake (currently airing) actually includes placements of Onitsuka Tiger’s classic models, making this a surprisingly inventive collab.
Finally, Crocs has crossed paths with kawaii (cuteness) icon Kyary Pamyu Pamyu for some gloriously distasteful footwear. The leopard print fake fur paired with the already divisive Crocs design is going to be a tough sell for most, but if you are a Kyary fan, the invitation to pad around with monstrously cute feet is going to be hard to resist. If you are concerned that they are a bit too tasteful, the shoes come with eight points to add additional Crocs Jibbitz Shoe Charms to, and they are available in sizes from 22 to 28 centimeters, proving there’s no accounting for taste.
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