Safe Baby Clothing Manufacturing by a Long-Established Japanese Factory: Initiatives by Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd.

Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd. has been producing baby and children's clothing for nearly half a century as a factory specializing in sewing. It is one of the venerable manufacturing facilities in Japan.

Unlike adult garments, not all sewing factories can produce baby and children's clothes. The limit of the irritant substance 'formaldehyde', used for sterilization and preservation, is set stringent. Even if a factory technically can make baby clothing, it cannot sell them unless properly managed for formaldehyde content.

Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd. is committed to not using materials or processing that include formaldehyde in all of the products they handle, not just baby and children's wear. Therefore, they have established a system that can confidently manufacture and sell baby and children's clothes, not only in terms of technology but also in managing formaldehyde.

In this article, we have conducted an interview with Daisuke Ogura, the president of the company, about his extensive experience in the manufacture of baby and children's clothing and his commitment to the manufacturing process.

Safety First in the Manufacturing of Baby & Children's Clothes

Please tell us about the history of Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd., which was established in 1929, and how it developed the baby and children's clothing market.

At the founding in 1929, in Honjo Ward, Tokyo (now Sumida Ward), the founder's grandfather initially bought yarn, knitted it with a circular knitting machine, cut and sewed it into men's underwear, loaded it onto a handcart, crossed the Ryogoku Bridge of the Sumida River, and wholesale them in Yokoyama Town (around the current Bakuro Yokoyama Station). That was the beginning.

There were many similar factories in Honjo Ward at that time, and it is still a major production area for knitted goods. In 1963, at a time when there was yet no category of 'baby wear', Renown Incorporated launched a brand called Piccolo and designated our company as their core dedicated factory. That was the beginning of our relationship with baby wear.

Since then, we continued to produce mainly baby and children's clothes until the early 2000s. From the late 2000s, we also started producing other items such as women's and men's clothing, but even now our factory still has a high production share for baby and children's clothes.

Can you tell us about the know-how that Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd. has cultivated in the sewing of baby and children's clothes?

The most significant one is our formaldehyde management system. Invisible formaldehyde can annoyingly spread in the air. Depending on the materials used, animal materials absorb more formaldehyde than plant materials. Also, if you use preservatives for various materials or even equipment, formaldehyde may contaminate the fabric or product, making management of them very tricky.

There are many cases where a manufacturer decided to switch production to our company, after they produced baby clothes in factories that typically make women's clothing without knowing about the formaldehyde standards for infant clothing and then suffered troubles such as having to recall all their products that exceeded the standardized limit.

Babies' bodies are proportioned differently from adults, with larger heads and the fact that they wear diapers, therefore pattern making is important. Additionally, you need to consider the head circumference when the clothes are put on or taken off.

Furthermore, due to the specifications, we use a lot of snap buttons, so we need to be careful about mistakes when attaching them and the risk of babies accidentally swallowing them if they come off. This poses a potential risk of a significant accident.

Moreover, babies cannot express with words if they feel 'pain' or 'itchiness', so they may behave in ways that adults cannot imagine. Therefore, while we pay attention to safety, we also ensure that our clothes are comfortable for babies to wear, and we continue to prioritize these considerations in our production process.

Has the situation surrounding the production of baby clothes changed from the time of the founding until now?

The major change is that vendors no longer visit the manufacturing site. As a result, the knowledge about safety and specifications that arise on-site has dwindled, making it difficult for us to get their understanding.

In apparel products, while design is important, safety measures are absolutely necessary when it comes to babywear.

We perform formaldehyde inspections on materials, fabrics, and products. We also conduct atmospheric pollution tests to manage the floating condition of formaldehyde in factories.

Baby clothes and children's wear have many accessories and processing (prints, embroidery), so it is important to ensure safety, including these elements. This also incurs costs. It's crucial that vendors and factories collaborate to create safe and stylish products together.

In recent years, we've noticed a decrease in clothes with a quintessential babywear design and an increase in adult-like baby and children's clothes. However, we believe that the importance of safety considerations will continue undiminished.

I believe that the field of infant clothing is one of the most challenging in terms of production. Could you please tell us why Ogura Meriyasu Seizosho Co., Ltd. decided to specialize in this area?

During the baby boom era, many factories entered the production of infant clothing, but many gradually withdrew from this sector. The main reason for this is thought to be the issue of labor costs. As infants grow quickly and outgrow sizes within half a year, there are limits to price setting.

Along with this fact, setting labor costs also faced constraints, and other competitors transitioned towards manufacturing higher-priced adult brands following the DC brand boom.

The reason we have specialized in infant clothing is that we have pride that Renown introduced the category of babywear to Japan and opened up the babywear market in Japan, and we, as a core factory at that time, also contributed to that. We used to say, "We are a baby clothes shop."

While many factories specialize only in tops or bottoms, we thought it was limiting to deal with only parts of infant clothes, so our company has dealt with all items.

We have dealt not only with cut-and-sew but also with woven fabrics and accessories such as bibs. It's common for us to make products with curves, like bibs, which are said to be difficult to keep the curve beautiful.

We believe our products have been evaluated for being able to address such details beautifully. Moreover, we think the absolute differentiation is the management of formaldehyde, and we often receive requests for inspection and study sessions from the infant clothing departments of overseas super brands regarding this point.

Can you tell us about the characteristics and competitive advantages of the unique materials your company holds? In particular, regarding the process, I saw that you value manufacturing in Japan in all processes. Could you also tell us about the background for that?

In terms of manufacturing infant clothing, thanks to many years of experience and track record, we believe that we have a clear advantage over other factories in terms of information, knowledge, and experience. However, now more than ever, we feel it’s important to protect domestic sewing factories and domestic production bases.

Originally, domestic production bases were scaling down, but the impact of COVID-19 has expedited this shrinkage. Once, other companies in the same industry were rivals, but now we recognize them as comrades protecting Japanese production.

In Japan, there are still a few factories at the scope of 100 people, but overwhelmingly medium and small scale factories are the majority. Each company is making various efforts, but sometimes work volume can be imbalanced depending on the timing.

We strongly feel that not only infant clothing but also women's wear and men's wear, all domestic clothing manufacturing factories need to join forces to safeguard domestic production.