People in Japan snap up winter clothing to reduce impact of high energy costs

Despite an unseasonably warm fall to date, the knowledge that the cold winter months are just around the corner is driving Japanese consumers to consider ways to avoid the steep recent rise in energy prices, and cold-weather clothing items have emerged as an increasingly popular choice.

From specially fitted desk gloves that leave the fingers free to type and feature a hole for a watch, to the revival of '80s-style leg warmers, cold-weather items are seen as a cost-efficient means of contributing to national efforts to save energy.

From the start of the month, Loft's sales of such items through Nov. 22 saw a 60% increase over the same period last year, said Yui Takahashi, press relations manager at the chain's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

“We've seen a real explosion in the popularity of these," Takahashi said, removing a pair of room socks from a pile of assorted stoles, scarfs and removable turtlenecks. Featuring a special mesh that warms a pressure point above the ankle, over 17,000 units of the socks have been sold at Loft stores throughout the country.

Takahashi attributes some of the rise in sales to the government’s “Warm Biz” campaign — an annual drive to encourage environmentally friendly solutions as a means of besting the cold weather — which has taken on added significance this year in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which entered its tenth month on Thursday.

“We try to respond to the needs of our customers,” Takahashi said of Loft’s decision to stock large amounts of warm weather goods this year. As the war in Ukraine continues to exert pressure on the global fuel market, “many of them are worried about the possibility that prices will continue to go up over winter,” she said.

First introduced in 2005 to complement the successful “Cool Biz” summer campaign, the government-backed concept of “Warm Biz” was initially conceived as a way to encourage the public to maintain room temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius throughout the winter months in order to limit the use of fossil fuels for heating and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

While calling for limiting the use of heating devices, the campaign also advises the public to wear warm clothing, eat traditional cold-weather dishes such as nabe (hot pot), take long baths and enjoy plenty of exercise as energy efficient means of retaining body heat when it’s cold.

Given the local opposition to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to usher in a return to nuclear power to counter the country’s growing energy squeeze and meet the national target of carbon neutrality by 2050, the question of how to stay warm without the large-scale use of limited fossil fuels will only become more pressing as the weather begins to turn.

The cold weather report released by the Japan Meteorological Agency in September forecasts a winter that is average or colder than usual, and regulated regional energy prices in the Tohoku region, for one, are to rise by as much as 32.94% in April, with other regions expected to follow suit. Consequently, Loft’s Takahashi believes that sales of warmer clothing will increase as the energy crisis continues to dominate headlines.

“The key phrase for consumers right now is ‘energy saving,’ and it’s been the same throughout this year," she said. "Whenever there’s news or a government announcement on the issue, there's an increase in our sales, and we can expect to see more of that as the weather gets colder.”