Japan's Zozo, using measurement taking bodysuit, expands bespoke service

Japanese online fashion retailer Zozo said on Tuesday it was expanding its offer of made-to-measure clothes using skintight bodysuits which help customers upload their measurements online.

Zozo, which operates Japan’s popular shopping site Zozotown and is officially called Start Today Co Ltd, sells clothes from other brands. But it sees the future of online fashion retail in bespoke services, and has set up a made-to-measure service using the bodysuit, called the Zozosuit. By photographing themselves wearing the skintight polka-dot Zozosuit, users can upload their body measurements to ensure a perfect fit for the clothes that they order.

“The time where people adapt to clothing is over, this is a new era where clothes adapt to people,” said Zozo Chief Executive Yusaku Maezawa.

Zozo said it was adding business suits and formal shirts to its private clothing line, taking orders from Tuesday. The suits will retail for a limited time at 21,900 yen ($197.60), with a regular price of 39,800 yen.

The company is on track to ship a million Zozosuits to customers by the end of July, Maezawa said, its second such suit after the first attempt was hit by production delays and high costs.

The Zozosuit and some private clothing line items are also available in 72 countries outside Japan. Maezawa sees overseas growth as key to the success of the private clothing line.

Online fashion mall Zozotown’s foray into selling into China earlier in the decade ended after less than two years.

Success could see Zozo putting further pressure on Japan’s fashion retailers hit by decades of price pressures. Shares of suit retailers Aoki Holdings Inc and Aoyama Trading Co Ltd fell more than 7 percent after the news.

Following Maezawa’s comments that Zozo was considering working with Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd, whose whole-garment knitting machines can produce seamless items of clothing, that company’s shares jumped as much as 16 percent in afternoon Tokyo trade.

Maezawa, a former drummer in a punk band, grabbed headlines last year when he bought a Basquiat for a record $110 million, adding to his collection of contemporary art.