I am Akihiro Nikkaku taking office as the eighth President of Japan Textile Federation (JTF), following the decision of the recent general meeting.  While assuming a great responsibility from the former President Kambara, I am determined to exert all of my efforts for development of the textile industry.  We would appreciate continuous support and cooperation from all of you.

     We would like to express our deepest sympathies to those affected by the 2024 Noto Earthquake occurred on New Year's Day.  This region serves as a major textile producing area where many fiber and textile companies have conducted their business activities for a long time.  We sincerely pray for the earliest possible recovery and reconstruction from the earthquake.

     The environment surrounding our textile industry has rapidly been changed in recent years.  As the domestic markets including apparels and other textile products shrink significantly, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a drastic change in consumer behavior as seen in a steep rise of online shopping.

     Though the Japanese apparel market declined temporarily, the demand from foreign visitors to Japan marked a sharp increase in the second half of the previous year.  Taking a look at global textile markets, it is expected to grow furthermore in the future.  Under these circumstances, the respective countries earnestly engage in raising their competitiveness and technological capability for gaining a larger market share.  Efforts for addressing Sustainability Transformation have been accelerated in each company to improve profit-making capability in a manner consistent with ESG criteria.  Thus, a lot of challenges arise in such efforts.

     Our textile industry should facilitate its efforts for creation of new values, while handling these rapid changes at an early stage and sharing the value of domestic materials in the entire industry.

     JTF keeps a close eye on a change in our surrounding environment　and makes appropriate response to sustainability in terms of human resource shortages, circular economy and trade optimization through reinforced cooperation with each organization.

     I firmly believe that craftsmanship is a starting point for the Japanese industry.  And our textile industry still has a huge potential to grow, if we steadily meet the demands from a wide area of industries that become more advanced and diversified.  With bringing your knowledge and ideas together, we will use our best efforts to turn our textile industry into an industry with a bright future.  Accordingly, we hopefully need your support and cooperation more than ever.

2024.1.18

Action Policy for Fiscal 2024 [pdf]