Sankyo Seiko Co., Ltd.
On May 23, 2024, an article about our company was published in Senken Shimbun newspaper.
Sankyo Seiko is aiming to expand its brand business globally in a new three-year mid-term management plan, with the fiscal year ending March 2025 as the initial year. The company plans to accelerate the opening of flagship stores in major cities around the world, with a focus on Asia. In addition to apparel, they will also emphasize OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) for products other than apparel and strengthen the development of proprietary materials through collaboration with United Silk, in which they invested at the end of March.
The combined number of stores for “DAKS” in English and “LEONARD” in France was 138 as of the end of the previous fiscal year (March 2024), with 74 domestically (32 for Ducks and 42 for Leonard) and 64 internationally (53 for Ducks and 11 for Leonard). While China has been the main focus for store expansion for DAKS in the past, President Akira Inoue stated, “We also aim to enter China with LEONARD.” In the next stage, they plan to expand into Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In this process, they aim to deepen their partnership with the Saha group. They are also considering the Indian market for the future.
DAKS plans to open flagship stores in Tokyo and London, aiming to do so within the first half of the fiscal year ending in 2025. LEONARD, in addition to its existing three stores in Hong Kong, plans to open a new store in Macau this summer. They also plan to open new stores in Paris, in addition to the existing two. Regarding China, they view the timing as not yet ripe, waiting to gauge success in Hong Kong and Macau. This year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, and they want to take advantage of events related to this milestone to facilitate entry into the Chinese market. Meanwhile, in Florida, they held a trunk show for LEONARD this spring, attracting visitors primarily from the affluent class and achieving sales of around 10 million yen over a few days. They also conducted business negotiations with select shops at the venue, aiming to expand their business on a wholesale basis.
For OEM products, they will continue to propose high value-added plans centered around apparel, striving for further differentiation. Collaboration with United Silk is part of this effort, aiming to strengthen material development such as washable silk and silk-cashmere. They also expect this to serve as a foothold for entering non-textile sectors. They are exploring possibilities for business realization in fields such as cosmetics and food utilizing silk protein, among others.
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