On February 9, Workman held the “WORKMAN 2026 Spring/Summer New Product Presentation -Colors & Mediheal-” at the Tokyo International Forum, unveiling its full lineup of recovery wear, its main product lineup. Mr. Tetsuo Tsuchiya, Executive Managing Director of WORKMAN, took the stage and talked about the company’s strategy to become No.1 in the market with the concept of “popularizing recovery wear at an overwhelmingly low price point for everyday wear.
This season, Workman’s “MEDiHEAL” series of recovery wear includes a total of 36 items. Of these, the popular standard long-sleeved shirts and long pants are priced at 1,900 yen each, short-sleeved shirts and half pants for spring and summer are priced at 1,290 yen each, and innerwear items are priced at 990 yen, still the lowest prices in the industry.
Recovery wear is clothing that improves fatigue and muscle stiffness by absorbing and radiating body heat (far-infrared radiation) emitted from the human body through special minerals kneaded into the fabric, thereby promoting blood circulation. It is becoming increasingly popular as loungewear, one-mile wear, and travel wear, and is also in high demand as a gift for Mother’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, and other occasions.
While other companies are offering these as high-priced gifts (20,000-30,000 for a top and bottom set), Workman’s strategy is to “commoditize” them (positioning them as daily necessities) to differentiate them and encourage casual trial and daily use by saying, “It’s a little cheaper, so I’ll give it a try.
Last year, Workman sold a total of approximately 3.19 million pieces of recovery wear in the first 20 days after its launch. Although the company increased production from the initial production plan (2.19 million pieces), consumers continued to complain that they could not get their hands on the product due to lack of stock. Despite the fact that the company had stocked up for the fall/winter season as “Workman’s first serious effort in 45 years,” supply could not keep up with the overwhelming demand, resulting in a situation where “customer satisfaction has fallen to the ground.
He also mentioned that market analysis had miscalculated the market and found that “young people are more tired than the elderly” and that women’s needs had been underestimated, resulting in immediate sell-outs of women’s sizes and products. In order to cover these shortages, the company has reviewed its overseas production system, invested 500 million yen in a dedicated warehouse, and otherwise put in place a thorough system to prevent product shortages. The company has increased its production plan tenfold so that “everyone can get the product when they want it,” and plans to sell 21 million pieces by 2026 at 1,088 stores nationwide, a seven-fold increase compared to last year.
In the spring/summer season, the company will also strengthen its lineup of heat-resistant apparel for the general public that is “cooler to wear” by using “XShelter,” the world’s first new heat-insulating material. As a new growth vision, the company aims to improve its position as a retailer by transforming itself from a “construction business” that has traditionally produced a wide variety of products in small quantities to a “mass products business” that makes the majority of its sales from a small number of key products.
© Source travel watch