January 4, 2016

TAKIHYO held a New Year's Ceremony at the Nagoya Head Office's 22nd floor from 9:15 a.m. on January 4 and C.E.O Taki's New Year Greeting is posted below.

I wish you a Happy New Year.

I believe you all had a relaxing holiday and have come back to the office refreshed. It feels as if I had just spoken at a New Year's gathering and am surprised that time seems to go by faster every year.

I came back from Hawaii yesterday and have read your New Year's cards. There was one that has left an impression on me. The card was from Chairman Taki and it said "Work hard on yourself but be kind to others." I was thinking how I should interpret this and have come to the conclusion that this actually means "do normal things in the normal way."

Then, what is normal? Let me tell you about the time I went to LA last December for a business meeting. I was expecting the weather in LA to be like its normal spring but the high temperature was 14℃, and the low temperature was 4℃ which is very cool for LA. On the other hand, at the same time in NY, people were wearing T shirts and shorts. Japan also unusually had a very warm December.

The normal standards of winter being cold and summer being hot have been overturned and what was considered abnormal may be changing into normal. Speaking from a position in the apparel industry, offering certain clothes for the different seasons is not the norm anymore. I've read that certain department store brands are starting to sell spring clothes 2 weeks earlier than usual.
What was normal until now, does not work anymore. Maybe customers do not think it strange to see next season's clothes in the stores during the winter season.

We cannot catch up to the flow of the market if we continue to do what was normal. We need to undertake challenges that may not be normal and incorporate unusual designs during each season.
I think it is necessary to throw out concept of what normal in the past and undertake new challenges in order to take a step forward.

If each one of you works on something that is not considered normal, several hundred different things should develop.

We do not have the power to control the environment. But we can do something different when we feel something different in the environment. Please think about "what is not normal" and "what is different from the norm". You should be able to see what's ahead even if only for half a step.

I will also make an effort to stay healthy and energetically immerse myself in work together with you and to rethink what I have always considered to be common sense.