Rakuten takes over from Amazon as the main sponsor of Tokyo Fashion Week

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Aug 1, 2019

Rakuten has formed a partnership with the Japan Fashion Week Organization and will now be the headline sponsor of Tokyo Fashion Week. The fashion week will now be called Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo and will take place in October. Rakuten takes over as the head sponsor of the event from Amazon, which was Tokyo Fashion Week’s lead sponsor up to its previous edition.

Amazon Japan sponsored Tokyo Fashion Week since July 2016 and supported the event for six seasons up to its latest edition in March 2019. The business also started the “At Tokyo” programme in March 2017 which supported Japanese brands each season.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with JFWO to help spotlight Japan’s vibrant and innovative fashion scene,” said Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Inc. “Fashion continues to experience rapid growth in Rakuten’s e-commerce services. Through this new partnership with JFWO, we hope to promote Japan’s fashion scene globally, empower the fashion industry and provide attendees with an even more exciting experience.”

The schedule for the upcoming edition of Tokyo Fashion Week was announced on August 1 at the business’ event “Rakuten Optimism 2019” held at the Pacifico in Yokohama. The upcoming spring/ summer edition will be held from October 14 to 20 and the autumn/ winter edition will be held from March 16 to 21, 2020. 

Rakuten operates the internet shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba, on which many merchant retail fashion-related products, as well as Rakuten Travel and Rakuten Bank. The business launched the flea market-style app Rakuma in 2014 and acquired the Japanese start-up Fablic with its flea market app Fril in 2016. Rakuten then consolidated the two apps into one in 2018.