PARIS — Muji Labo is ready to go global.
The more upscale yet still minimal range of the Japanese lifestyle and apparel brand made its debut Friday in Paris at its long-standing store in the Marais.
The line, which spans men’s and women’s styles, hinges on high-quality materials of natural origin, and retails around 25 percent above the brand’s regular clothing collections.
Men’s shirts start at 59.95 euros and a blazer is priced at 129 euros, while a duffle coat in a recycled wool-cashmere blend goes up to 279 euros. Skirts are priced around 100 euros.
Designed by an in-house team, the line was originally launched in 2005 to explore apparel with a creative lens. It was formalized as a unisex seasonal offering from spring 2017, mainly in Japan. It now focuses on innovative and more sustainable textiles applied to Muji’s functionality-first approach to clothing.
“There is research in simplicity, but with an accent on new fabrication processes and innovation,” said Uriel Karsenti, managing director of Muji Europe Holdings Ltd, the European arm of the Japanese company. “There’s an important aspect because we are in an industrial field where there are important efforts to be done on sourcing, particularly in recycled materials.”
In its repertoire are a wool and cashmere blend developed in the Bishu region of Japan from upcycled production offcuts that have been spun again; lyocell derived from eucalyptus, and washi paper that gives a supple, lightweight hand to cotton-based denims.
A close-up of the washi paper and cotton blend.
Courtesy of Muji
Currently with a total of 62 references, with around half of them already in stores and the other half slated for October, Muji Labo will expand to accessories but also travel items and other categories.
The brand also plans to release its sneaker collaboration with Reebok, launched exclusively in the U.S. in August.
An all-white design with all branding stripped off and priced at $79.99, it is based on the sports apparel company’s Reebok Club C85 model and is currently available exclusively from Muji’s website.
New items in the Muji Labo line will be introduced seasonally, with the likes of puffer coats and winter-weight wool funnel-neck sweaters arriving as part of the October drop.
Known for its minimal aesthetic and storage solutions, Muji’s clothing line has found traction in Europe, where it accounts for around 45 percent of total revenues. In Japan, that proportion is around 30 percent owing to a greater number of categories, including health, beauty and skin care not available outside the country.
Muji Labo’s arrival in France also signals a new step for the Japanese company, said Karsenti, an industry veteran who joined the brand a year ago and is best known for founding French “durable fashion” brand Maison Standards in 2013. (He exited in 2019.)
Muji has been reworking its business flows across Europe, which has moved from a country-by-country organization to a more centralized approach under two areas, Northern and Southern Europe.
“We want to centralize as we needed to be more efficient but also more coherent as a brand in the way we apply communication, social media but also in terms of in-store experience,” he told WWD.
The company is therefore looking at revamping its retail network in France, where the current average surface of a Muji store in the country is around 3,200 square feet. Karsenti said a space between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet would be ideal “to express all the levels of the brand.”
Although the company is not about to go all-out on marketing, Karsenti said it would step up its efforts to highlight topics such as sustainability.
A look from Muji Labo.
Courtesy of Muji
“We have been overtaken by a lot of people who speak louder than us while we’ve stayed very discrete,” he said. “But it’s important we situate ourselves in this context.”
After Paris, the Tokyo-based retailer will be launching the Labo line later this month in the U.S. where it currently has 10 stores, with a majority in New York City. Other locations are Boston and Portland, Ore.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company had ambitious expansion plans in America but its U.S. unit filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware in July 2020 and subsequently closed all its stores in California.
Last year, Muji staged an immersive arbor-inspired installation in The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards in Manhattan along with a pop-up. The traveling exhibition, also staged in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, was meant to introduce people to the heritage and “experimental practices” of the company.
