Wednesday, June 18, 2008

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SUPIMA IN JAPAN: The makings of the world’s best towels

By CeCe Shelburne

TOKYO — Supima’s brand statement of comfort and quality needed no translation when the Osaka Towel Industries staged a trade event here at the Marunouchi Building earlier this year.

Celebrating the collaboration between Cotton USA and Senshu Quality Adherence (Senshu is the name of an area south of Osaka, renowned for its towel and textile production), the glamorous Mika Mifune, who is renowned throughout Japan as the daughter of superstar Toshiro Mifune and wife of rock musician George Takahashi as well as an entertainer in her own right, addressed the attendees while wearing a special, custom-created bathrobe made of pure Supima cotton.

“I don’t want to take this bathrobe off, because of such comfortable touch!” Mifune said while wrapped in her thick Supima robe. “My family members are all bathrobe lovers. So, I have an expert eye.” She also added: “It’s too good to wear only after bath; rather I would like to wear this at outside of the house as a trenchcoat, and walk around to show how nice it is.”

Mifune also explained to her attentive audience what she had in mind when the robe was designed to her specifications: “Embroidery mark on my breast was designed with the motif of peaceful angel’s wing, along with my favorite fire/flame-like heart and my initials M. I thought the pure and natural blessing of cotton reminds us of peacefulness, so I designed this. The feeling of embrace by peaceful cotton makes me very happy.”

After the event, Mifune’s custom-made bathrobe was later the object of intense bidding during a multiday charity auction on Yahoo, reaching a total of ¥29,000. All proceeds benefitted the Japan Committee for UNICEF.