A VISIT TO FASHION WORLD TOKYO 2026

This week saw the latest iteration of "Fashion World Tokyo," Japan's main fashion fair and one that has its ups-and-downs. This year's event, held as usual at Tokyo Big Sight, seemed a little lower key than last year's show. But there was still plenty to see, so here are a few of the highlights....

Down on the OEM floor, where cheap manufacturers try to team up with pricier brands, there was a big push by Bangladeshi companies to fill the slots formally occupied by Chinese companies.

Chinese companies, for the most part, have moved further up the supply chain and were doing more branding and design work, in addition to manufacturing.

There were plenty of innovative handbags on show, with lightness, coolness, and cuteness driving the design:

Smiler, a brand started by a Thai lady based in Japan, was putting little faces on all their items, from backpacks to pursues and shopping bags: 

Japan is well known these days for having an endless supply of used kimonos. Osaka-based firm Chopsticks Aloha has decided that the best use for this by-product of traditional feminine elegance was to turn them into lurid and impactful Hawaiian style shirts. If I were a chinpira I wouldn't be seen in anything else, even in Winter: 

Sports clothing, head scarves made out of panty fabric, and sea-through handbags that reveal all your inner secrets were also part of the stimulating fashion kaleidoscope:

One of the stand-out items on display was this inflatable jacket from Korean label CVSN. Not only could you fall off a train and probably survive, but it also looks pretty cosy. 

They also do pillow hoodies with inflatable collars that encourage micro-napping on public transport, and inflatable bags that can protect your delicate electronic devices. Here's to a world full of Michelin Men!

FWT is also the meeting point between East and West, and North and South. Here we see the latest designs in Mongolian cashmere (yes, the buttons are supposed to close like that for added warmth) and snaky tropical bag designs from Thai designer Pharata: