PORTUGUESE BRANDS ARE BACK IN JAPAN

The 14 companies are attending this event with the support by the Selectiva Moda Association, as part of the "From Portugal" project. The Portuguese entourage is multi-sectorial, ranging from home textiles to cork, and including memo boards, gadgets for tidying up, soaps, wall coverings, and ceramics. The fair is held at Tokyo Big Sight and will take place between 1 and 3 june. The last fair had 769 exhibitors, from 25 countries and was attended by more than 28,000 buyers. 

The main objective of Castelbel is to enhance its presence in the Japanese and Korean markets. For this, "the presence of Castelbel in the Asian market (mainly Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong) has been strengthened in recent years so it makes sense to participate in a fair on this continent," says Marta Araújo, commercial manager of the brand. "The new Castelbel Ambiente Eau de Toilette collection" will be the new range on display, which conveys "the already characteristic presentation of the brand but [with] even more sophisticated aromas."

Maria Terracota Portugal will take its creations to Tokyo inspired on ancient and traditional pieces, with the aim of "being able to find the right distributor”. So says Flávio Cardoso, who adds that the brand is "focusing heavily on the Asian market, to expand sales in the near future". The highlighted pieces will be the “new terracotta stoneware” and the “dinnerware lines”.

Japan is, for SmartLunch, “a natural market for this type of food transport packaging”. Cristina Correia, marketing and sales manager of the brand, says that “SmartLunch is focused on selling lunch boxes and lunch bags with an innovative design, with the major purpose of giving customers the ability to carry their own food from their homes, in a healthy and stylish way.” All the brand’s products are produced in Portugal and allow customers to choose “healthy, eco-friendly and low-priced products”. SmartBento – Design Lunch Box, SmartBox – Thermal Cork Box and Eve Cork – Lunch Bag are the highlighted products the brand hopes will charm Japanese buyers. The brand's aims are to “find distributors in the Japanese market”.

Lasa Home also travels to Tokyo with the aim of finding a distributor for its bed linen. The brand, which constantly invests in the specialisation of its products, as well as in innovation and design, is taking "items with special yarns and new products in terms of production, which is reflected in the final product." The major goal is, according to Casimiro Lemos, export manager of the brand, to search for “markets other than Europe and the USA”. The Japanese market is deemed to be challenging, “but important due to its characteristics”.

Giestal Home Textiles, an expert in home textiles, will also exhibit at the fair “medium-low range products and a collection based in those products”. João Ferreira, sales manager of the company, says that Japan “is a market with great potential" and that their participation in this fair is a "market consolidation strategy”.

Portuguese cork will also be present at Interior Lifestyle Tokyo, carried by the hands of the Portuguese brand 3DCORK. Sara Nunes, commercial manager of the brand, states that “the Japanese market has special characteristics and it is particularly suitable for the consumption of environmentally friendly and design products. It is a particularly interesting market and in line with our cork products”. The brand aims to "open doors in the Japanese market and find interesting partners," showing "products with a strong Japanese inspiration and appropriate to the living experience in this country"; They are "multi-functional items of simple lines, such as boards with notes areas and small bowls."

B. Sousa Dias & Filhos SA returns again to this fair. Inge Van Staeyen says that “the market is small, but the payoff is rewarding, both in business terms and as regards contact with the Japanese people. Portuguese companies are usually very well received." “Terry textiles for the bathroom, mats and textiles for the kitchen/table” will be the products exhibited, in conjunction with the new 2016 collection of the Devilla brand. The aim is to “consolidate the Japanese market.”

DITTO will exhibit its “byline 32 x 32” collection, which consists of “boxes that can be placed on any wall at home or in the office and besides being able to store/organize objects and papers are also intended to be design/decoration items.” According to Mário Lobo, participation in this fair is due to the fact that the company thinks “this collection is attractive for the Asian markets (particularly Japan and South Korea).”

Costa Nova has been working in the Japanese market for six years. It considers this market to be an “'unavoidable market (…), due to its purchasing power, the excellent level of retail and hospitality, and also its appetite for our items”. According to Carlos Ruão “Costa Nova is considered a “trend” in the Japanese market, very high profile”, so visiting current clients and attracting new ones is the company's goal. The Lisboa Collection, which has been a success at other international fairs, “which portrays the tile panels of Portugal and South Europe of the 18th and 19th centuries”, will be the highlight at this trade fair.

The participation of the 14 portuguese companies in one more Interior Lifestyle Tokyo edition is an initiative promoted by the Selectiva Moda Association, co-financed by the EU Structural and Investment Funds as part of the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020 and COMPETE 2020. The FROM PORTUGAL project is made up of approximately 81 international activities which take place in the second half of 2015 and in 2016, covering the entire textile and fashion industry and spread over four continents, with a total investment of over 13 million euros.