ITOCHU : Announces the Launching of a New Company for FILA Shoes and Apparel Products
March 14, 2024 at 10:07 pm EDT
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ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it has launched IFJ Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keisuke Muraoka, President & CEO; hereinafter "IFJ") to handle the design, production, and sales of shoes and apparel products, a core product category for FILA, the Italian sports brand.
ITOCHU acquired FILA master license rights for the Japanese market in 2006 and currently manages 16 product categories including shoes and apparel together with sublicensees. FILA was founded in Biella, Italy in 1911. This sports brand has continued to grow, becoming a brand loved by consumers who enjoy sports in a broad sense, including athletes and fans. They have done so by inheriting the style, passion, creativity, and design unique to Italy. As FILA expands to countries worldwide, it is actively investing so that it can move to a new stage of growth. This includes the global launch of FILA+, a modern sportswear line led by prominent creative director Lev Tanju.
The Japanese market is an important base within Asia. As a wholly owned ITOCHU subsidiary and sublicensee, IFJ will introduce the core categories of shoes and apparel products into the Japanese market in the 2025 spring/summer season. Based on its hands-on management utilizing ITOCHU's extensive knowledge and network in the brand business, IFJ will design and produce collections of shoes and apparel products. IFJ will also make full-scale investments to enhance the value of FILA by developing directly managed stores that clearly communicate the brand identity in addition to its existing wholesale business. ITOCHU will also continue to work with existing sub-licensees in other categories, including bags and hats.
ITOCHU has positioned the expansion of the steadily growing sports-related business as one of its priority strategies. Within five years, ITOCHU aims to achieve 50 billion yen in net sales on a retail sales price basis for all categories by further expanding the FILA business, a time-honored, world-renowned brand.
FILA Brand Global Ambassador Hailey Bieber (Left) and Han So-hee (Right)
The scheme of FILA business
IFJ
Location
5-1, Kita-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative
Keisuke Muraoka
Established
February, 2024
Business
Product planning, manufacturing, and sales under the "FILA" brand
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Itochu Corporation published this content on
15 March 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by
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15 March 2024 02:06:03 UTC.
Itochu Corporation is a diversified group organized around 8 areas of activity:
- distribution of food products (34.9% of net sales): frozen food, vegetable oil, sweeteners, sugars, etc.;
- distribution of hydrocarbons (23.3%): hydrocarbons (natural gas, oil products, bioethanol, etc.). The group also develops manufacturing of chemical products activity;
- manufacturing and sale of industrial and construction machines, vehicles and ships (9.7%);
- production of metals and coal (8.5%);
- sale of consumer products (8.4%). The group also develops forest products sale and real estate development activities;
- distribution of computing and telecommunication equipments (7%): data transmission, Internet access, media content broadcasting and mobile telephony equipments. The group also offers financial services;
- sale of textile products (3.6%);
- other (4.6%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (79.5%), Singapore (5.4%), the United States (4.5%), Australia (3.1%), China (2.8%) and other (4.7%).
ITOCHU CORPORATION 
