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The story
The fashion brand “JANTJE_ONTEMBAAR,” founded by actor Shingo Katori (49), has issued a protest statement against its collaboration partner VASIC (Vasic Japan Inc.). According to the brand, VASIC produced more units than were actually ordered and then sold the surplus without authorization through its own outlet stores. The brand called it “not just a serious breach of contract, but an illegal act.” On 5ch, posters noted that this kind of padded production and back-door dumping isn’t unusual in the apparel industry, questioned whether the items were even selling well, and pointed out that VASIC, despite branding itself as “New York-born,” looks like it’s actually a Japanese company.
Sun, Sep 20, 2:12 PM
The official website of “JANTJE_ONTEMBAAR,” the fashion brand launched in 2018 by actor Shingo Katori (49), was updated on the 20th. The brand reported that some of its collaboration items had been sold without permission at certain outlet stores, and expressed its regret over the matter.
Via its official site, the brand stated: “Since around this summer, we have confirmed multiple posts on social media indicating that collaboration items between JANTJE_ONTEMBAAR and VASIC (Vasic Japan Inc.) were being sold at VASIC’s outlet stores.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
So basically:
– They commissioned an American fashion company called VASIC to manufacture the clothes
– Katori's brand received and sold the goods
– VASIC made more than what was ordered and sold the surplus at its own outlet stores
– Katori's brand is like "Selling it at outlets without our permission?! Unacceptable!!"
Makes you wonder how common this actually is when it just doesn't get caught
If you order 100 and they only make 80, that gets noticed. But if they make 120 and quietly stash 20 in the warehouse, nobody's the wiser — probably happens more than we think
Right? Who's buying that hogee guy's clothes besides old ladies
They were actually selling
So they overproduced expecting even more demand
Then it didn't sell, so → outlet
If they'd just quietly scrapped the excess, nobody would've noticed the overproduction at all
Katori's brand has shirts going for 30,000 yen, dresses for 40,000, outerwear for 100,000
Only fans buy this stuff, and even the fans probably aren't buying that much impractical clothing on repeat
There's probably a ton of unsold stock getting tossed
Given Katori's into fashion and does a lot of charity donations, he might want to think about sustainability too
At this rate it's getting scrapped
Pretty different situation from "we made you build it for free and now hand over the blueprints and the rights too"
That actually happens a fair amount
Either way it just ends up looking uncool now
Re: #43
With Katori? Or with the bag company?
The "New York-born brand" claim is such an obvious dodge
There IS an English site, vasic-newyork.com, but the only shops are in Japan
Basically, it's a Japanese company
So it just ends with "please prevent this from happening again"? No lawsuit?
Well it does say:
"Going forward, we will take even stricter action against VASIC"
…so there's that
More recently, =LOVE's Otani opened a shop in Newoman Shinjuku — you don't do business in a spot like that if it's not selling
And the moment it's a collab with a Japanese celebrity's brand, the main market is obviously Japan anyway
They don't even have a store in New York — so why "New York-born"?
Background and key points of this discussion
The core issue here isn’t counterfeiting or diversion of goods — it’s that a legitimate manufacturing partner produced more units than were actually ordered, and then sold that surplus through an unauthorized channel: its own outlet stores. Several posters in the thread noted that this kind of padded production and back-channel dumping tends to stay hidden in the apparel industry and isn’t as rare as it might seem, citing past examples like the unauthorized sale of Yoshida Kaban bags and a camping gear maker that once commercialized equipment designed by the YouTuber Hiroshi without permission. Others pointed out that VASIC brands itself as “New York-born” despite having physical stores only in Japan, raising questions about the gap between its branding and its actual identity as, in effect, a Japanese company. Notably, the official statement only says the brand “will take even stricter action going forward” — as of this report, it has not explicitly stated that concrete legal steps, such as a lawsuit, have been taken.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Shingo Katori’s brand issues statement — collab partner unauthorized overproduced & sold products… “not just a serious contract violation but an illegal act”.”
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