From Sleeping Bags to Down Jackets: The Evolution of 'NANGA's' 'AURORA DOWN JACKET'

A leading domestic down brand that provides warmth through excellent craftsmanship, 'NANGA' covers everything from the outdoors to urban living. Although it is already widely popular in Japan, its popularity is growing overseas in recent years. In this article, we spoke to Sou Yonezawa, leader of the Sales Planning section of the Sales Department at NANGA Inc., about the brand's commitment to downwear and its roots.

NANGA was Founded on Cotton Futon and Sleeping Bag Manufacturing

"We started in 1941 under the name Yokoda Sewing (横田縫製). The area where our headquarters is located, Maibara City, Shiga Prefecture, is well-known for the manufacture of cotton futons, hence we engaged in this field. Then in 1988, we received a request to manufacture sleeping bags from a major domestic outdoor brand and began to work on it; this eventually became the roots of NANGA today."

Transition to Down Jacket Manufacturing

While continuing to make sleeping bags, they decided to leverage their feather product know-how and move towards down jacket manufacturing. The birth of these down jackets marked the start of the NANGA brand in the downwear market.