Why is Japanese menswear increasingly celebrated abroad?

With fifteen brands featured on the official calendar of the Paris Men’s Fashion Week Autumn–Winter 2026, representing 22% of the total, Japan has established itself as an essential player in contemporary menswear. Audiences are drawn to the precision of Japanese tailoring and the exceptional quality of its fabrics, at a time when the closure of numerous factories in Europe is increasingly constraining production.

Yet this gradual conquest of international wardrobes is unfolding largely outside the sphere of Japan’s three most emblematic fashion houses—Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake. At Fashion Week, TAAKK’s runway show illustrated this shift: a vision of desirable yet accessible fashion that continues to embrace innovation, through raised embroidery and gradient fabrics in which cotton gradually transforms into wool.

At Rendez-Vous Store, a multi-brand boutique with two locations in Toulouse and one in Paris, Japanese designers account for 60% of the menswear selection. Marc Llorens, co-founder of the store, who began his career at Irié and helped launch the Irié Wash line, is unequivocal: ‘menswear, for us, is in Japan.’ His customers are particularly drawn to the fabrics and materials, distinct from those found elsewhere, such as the soft cashmeres from KAPTAIN SUNSHINE.

Exceptional textile craftsmanship

Japanese designers benefit from outstanding materials produced by manufacturers who combine artisanal expertise, traditional techniques and cutting-edge technology. Fabrics are developed not only at the level of the yarn itself, but also through finishing processes and treatments. Functionality now plays a central role, with particular attention paid to comfort: garments must remain cool in summer and warm in winter. All of this is achieved while maintaining remarkable finesse and consistently high quality, reflecting the exceptional skill of Japan’s textile artisans.

Of course, functionality and comfort alone cannot explain the success of Japanese fashion. As Olivier Salette, co-founder of Rendez-Vous Store—formerly in merchandising at Ralph Lauren—explains, what is also essential is an added dimension of soul, ‘an emotion’. This is where Japanese designers stand out, with ‘modern cuts, less fitted and more relaxed than European production’, inspired by vintage references and workwear. Materials are designed to develop a patina over time, revealing a different relationship to clothing—pieces meant to last, to be kept, and to be passed on. Timeless fashion.

‘It’s difficult to explain, but the proportions are just right,’ adds his partner Marc Llorens. ‘There is a silhouette.’ The most structured pieces are also the bestsellers, such as coats, jackets and trousers.

An international expansion that is not always straightforward

However, not all Japanese designers seek a global audience. Many take time before making the leap. This is the case of COMOLI, a brand the duo behind Rendez-Vous Store discovered in Japan just a few months after opening their first boutique in Toulouse, in southern France, in 2014. At the time, they were among the brand’s very first stockists worldwide, yet the initial collections sold out in just two weeks. A decade later, the brand remains among the store’s bestsellers, alongside STILL BY HAND, which was also present from the early days of Rendez-Vous Store, and ssstein, introduced in recent seasons.

The latter was already enjoying strong success before its designer became a semi-finalist for the 2026 LVMH Prize. Marc Llorens attributes this enthusiasm to Kiichiro Asakawa’s unisex vision. Female customers are particularly drawn to his men’s knitwear and coats, to the point that the womenswear collection has recently been introduced to the Paris store. ssstein had previously won the Fashion Prize of Tokyo in 2025, which supports selected brands through the organisation of two runway shows and showrooms during Paris Fashion Week. This award typically recognises labels that already enjoy a certain level of international recognition.

By contrast, the Tokyo Fashion Award is presented each year to eight Japanese brands that are not yet widely known abroad but show strong international potential. The Japan Fashion Week Organization helps them reach this goal by presenting their collections at showroom.tokyo in Paris, held alongside Paris Fashion Week. In the January 2026 edition, menswear designers ANTHEM A, kiminori morishita and MATSUFUJI stood out in particular.

Introducing a new generation of designers

For the first time this year, their pieces were offered for sale at the ‘TOKYO FASHION AWARD POP UP EVENT in PARIS’ at Printemps Haussmann Men’s, within the ELEVASTOR concept space. According to Hiroshi Komoda, Executive Director of The Japan Fashion Week Organization, this represents an important step: beyond the originality of a collection, success abroad also depends on meeting the end consumer. One of the key challenges lies in sizing, which differs from the Japanese market, as well as pricing strategies.

‘When pieces are actually placed in stores, they may receive unexpected reactions and sell well, or, conversely, items of which we were very confident may fail to resonate,’ he explains. ‘Being able to experience this directly is essential, beyond pre-orders placed by buyers. Real in-store evaluation helps us understand what we should create next.’

As sales remain closely linked to brand awareness, the ‘TOKYO FASHION AWARD POP UP EVENT in PARIS’ did not meet its initial targets. Communication strategy will therefore be a central focus of future Tokyo Fashion Award initiatives. While showroom.tokyo in Paris is now firmly established among industry professionals as the key meeting point for discovering the next generation of Japanese designers, the challenge now is to give equal visibility to the pop-up, which will return during Paris Fashion Week in June 2026.

In the meantime, fashion enthusiasts can visit Rendez-Vous Store Paris or its website, where new arrivals are curated weekly through the discerning eye of Marc Llorens and Olivier Salette, long-standing connoisseurs of Japanese fashion.