All-domestic production at a high cost ratio, against an import-led industry (2015)

Making contrarianism the business model

The core of this decision is that the opposite of industry common sense was assembled as a business model rather than seized on as an idea. In an apparel trade where the mainstream is to import good foreign products, hold down cost and take the gross margin, TOKYO BASE made its goods in Japan, raised the cost ratio to 50 per cent, and printed even the prefecture of manufacture on the tag. From a shop that gathers to a shop that makes; from importing to exporting; from low cost to high cost. Each of the contrarian moves Tani Masato stacked up followed consistently from a single mission — Japanese origin to the world — and none was a stunt for the sake of differentiation.

A quality strategy built on contrarianism carries its strength and its weakness at the same time. A 50 per cent cost ratio produces quality others find hard to imitate and a following that supports it, while condemning the company to structurally thin margins. A global niche concentrated in city centres, priced in the middle, and built on devoted customers means that, since scale is not pursued, every single store weighs more — and abroad, opening and paying for itself must be achieved together. The founding choice to go all in on quality becomes, unchanged, the constraint on later management: TOKYO BASE’s course reflects both the fruit and the burden a company takes on when it puts contrarianism at the centre of its business.