Consistent with the spirit of the mission:''The gateway to the world of new designers”, the Japan Fashion Week Organization (JFWO) launched a new annual support program dedicated to new talents, starting from the up-coming Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo SS 2023.
Two departments with their respective awards:
_ physical department: “JFW Next Brand Award”,
_ digital department: “JFW Digital Grand Prix”.
NB: For the digital department, award-winner is scheduled to be announce around late September.

Screening was carried out on June 14, and judge under the five criteria of designability, originality, future prospect, marketability, integrity. There will be an award ceremony and an opportunity for interview award-winning designers. Details will be announced later.

The judges for JFW Next Brand Award include: Teppei Fujita, designer Sulvam, Tomo Koizumi, designer ‘Tomo Koizumi’, Yukino Takakura, Elle Japon Fashion Editor, Nami Demizu, Liberal Arts Department Chief Director, and Tasuku Minoshima, WWD Japan Writer.

The Jury named Fetico as winner of JFW Next Brand Award 2023.
"The brand has a unique brand identity recognizable at first glance, and has a firmly established female image", commented the jury. "Their use of unique materials to express that individuality, and have integrity fit for their skills. Every item in the collection is powerful, which gives us high anticipation towards seeing it expressed in show form."

Fetico
Show schedule: August 29, 12:00 at Shibuya Hikarie Hikarie Hall A
Fetico was founded by the designer Emi Funayama. After studying abroad in the UK, Emi Funayama studied at Esmod Japon Tokyo Campus, graduating in 2010. After accumulating experience at several apparel companies, applying experience as a designer, Funayama was in charge of women’s design at Christian Dada since 2016. After the brand was dissolved, Fetico was born in 2020. Inspired by classic styles that emphasize the beauty and form of women’s figures, aesthetic senses and bodily sights are reconstructed from a unique point of view, and combined with conflicting aspects to design a new and unique women’s style. Pieces are created scrupulously through cooperation with textile production centers around Japan and craftsmen, consciously creating designs and production that will be loved for years to come as beautiful vintage wear.

Physical Department (JFW Next Brand Award) Special Recognition Award
Instead, Haengnae and natsumi osawa were rewarded with special recognition awards. The collection of these two brands will be exhibited at the official venue Shibuya Hikarie 8F Cube, during the 2023 SS season from August 29 to 31, 2022.

Haengnae
The brand was launched from the 2021AW season by Anna Choi, a designer with Korean nationality, raised in Japan. Studied fashion design in NY and Japan, awarded the Kobe Fashion Contest Special Prize in 2017, as a student still studying at Bunka Fashion College. Later studied abroad at Nottingham Trent University in the UK as an honor student. The haute couture collection she presented at Graduate Fashion Week gathers attention. She returned to Japan to start up her own brand Haengnae. The brand develops peerless clothing by fusing free expressive power of New York, Japanese craftsmanship, skills of European haute couture, and the designer’s own identity.

natsumi osawa
Founded by the homonymous designer Natsumi Osawa. After graduating from the Creative Design Advanced Diploma Course at Bunka Fashion College, Osawa moved abroad to Antwerp and experienced working as a production assistant for student collections. After returning to Japan, she studied at coconogacco while working at various designer brands as a designer and pattern assistant. By chance of being chosen as a finalist of the International talent support in 2020, she started her own brand activities in full. Inspired by daily “events” or “beauty” seen through the designer’s personal viewpoint, suggests joys and happiness of getting dressed up put into new shapes. Characterized by one-of-a-kind upcycled vintage kimonos, original textile processing and details utilizing handwork skills inspired by Japanese “shibori (tie-dye)”. Does not carry excess stock, making by production to order, creating each and every item carefully, mainly at their atelier.

Photo: a look by Fetico. Courtesy image of Jfwo