Amazon Aims to Breathe New Life Into Tokyo Fashion Week

Amazon Aims to Breathe New Life Into Tokyo Fashion Week Kelly Wetherille TOKYO — Amazon is gearing up to make waves on Japan's fashion scene. The e-commerce giant signed on as the headline sponsor of Tokyo Fashion Week starting with the spring 2017 season. Rather than immediately making sweeping changes, Amazon used spring as an opportunity to learn from what previous sponsor Mercedes-Benz had done. Now that its second season of sponsorship starts March 20, Amazon is being bolder in its initiatives. One of the key programs launching for fall is called At Tokyo, through which Amazon will support three hot Tokyo brands. "We got a lot of good feedback from designers saying they wanted to work with us, so we found three very different designers and we are putting a package together to support them," said James Peters, vice president of Amazon Fashion in Japan. "We think it's a nice group. The reason we picked them is they're all different…and when we think about Amazon's customer, we have this broad customer that's anyone who wears clothing." The three brands selected for the inaugural season of At Tokyo are Growing Pains, designed by influential musician Mademoiselle Yulia; House_Commune, by Mihoko Shitanaka, and Bedwin & the Heartbreakers, by Masafumi Watanabe. The first two labels will present traditional runway shows, while Watanabe will draw on his streetwear Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Read More... Fashion 3