Gunze

Gunze headquarters in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture

Gunze Limited (グンゼ株式会社, Gunze Kabushiki Kaisha) is a Japanese clothing brand with its registered head office in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture, its Osaka head office, and a Tokyo office.^[1] It was established on August 10, 1896,^[2] by Tsurukichi Hatano, and was originally known as Gunze Silk Manufacturing Co., Ltd. .^[3]

The company started the Gunze Blue-Mountain Underwear brand in association with Daiei in 1962, and this brand was used for all sexes before the introduction of the Christie brand for women in 1968. In a three-year period from 1962 the brand made up 6 percent of Daiei's turnover of underwear.^[4] It began selling its clothing in Thailand in 2000.^[5]

The company's flagship outlet is in Harajuku.^[6]

References

1. "Business Locations". Gunze. Retrieved 2021-07-04. Osaka Head Office HERBIS OSAKA Office Tower, 2-5-25, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0001, Japan [...] Registered Head Office 1 Zeze, Aono-cho, Ayabe, Kyoto 623-8511, Japan [...] Tokyo Office Gunze Nihonbashi Bldg., 2-10-4 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0027, Japan
2. "Outline." Gunze. Retrieved on October 10, 2017.
3. "GUNZE History." Gunze. Retrieved on October 10, 2017.
4. Usui, Kazuo. Marketing and Consumption in Modern Japan. Routledge, March 5, 2014. ISBN 1134350740, 9781134350742. p. 12.
5. "Japanese State-of-the-Art Textiles, 2000." JTN Monthly - Issues 542-553. Osaka Senken Limited, 2000. p. 29 (View #1, Google search result view)
6. Cole, Shaun. The Story of Men's Underwear. Parkstone International, May 8, 2012. ISBN 1780428820, 9781780428826. p. 123. "The Japanese, Osaka based underwear company Gunze,[...] in the flagship store opened in the fashionable Harijuku [sic] area of Tokyo in 2010."

External links

• Gunze
• Gunze (in Japanese)