ITOCHU expands Mila Shon brand to China ミラ ショーン 伊藤忠が中国へ

Itochu , a major trading house from Japan, will, jointly with a Taiwanese company, expand Mila Shoen into China. Itochu follows the common moves that a Taiwanese company helps a Japanese company entering China.
I do not say this brand, Mila Shoen is a second class but Japanese fashion brands need to buy more first class brand.
Some time ago I wrote about the brand awareness exemplifying the auto industry. This time fashion: regardless of the actual quality European brands tend to be perceived as superior to Asian brands. It is not easy to change this awareness. Three ways to overcome this 1) keeping improving its quality and letting the customers to realise the real quality under its own (non-European) name like Cannon, Sony 2) serving as an OEM supplier to the European brands( many Taiwanese companies follow this) and 3) buying an European brand.
1) is not easy for the fashion brand as differentiation is not easy; camera may last and work well longer than others to see the difference but the clothes, whether it is from China or France, it may last and be wearable, 2)  many Japanese textiles are used for the French/Italian brands already but the margin is low and the OEM company can be dependent on the brands of their clients and 3) is useful for the fashion industry. A Chinese company, for example, tried to buy the Prada. This action was a nice one, though in vain.
I have not seen recently Japanese companies buy first class brands. In 80s Aoki Construction bought the Inter Continental. Japanese companies then were not really internationalised; from its language capability to the management style fitting foreign companies, but now many of them are.

ファッションブランドは欧米（特に欧州）の企業を「超えた」と消費者に認識されるのは難しい。企業買収しかもっとも効果的な方法である。昨今の日本企業は二流、三流の企業を買収することがおおい。フランスのLVMHが行っているような、一流企業の買収はまったくない。80年代青木建設はインターコンチネンタルホテルを買収、エンパイヤーステートビルを買った日本人もいた。当時は言語の問題から始まり、経営スタイル・ノウハウも国際化してはいなかった日本は、その多くを手放した。今こそ、第一級のブランドを買収していくべきである。

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/itochu-expands-mila-shon-brand-to-china