Japan’s Hosoo Corp., which has been producing Nishijin-ori, a traditional textile, for more than 300 years in Kyoto prefecture, has developed machines that can weave the silk textile with a width of 150 cm.
Traditionally, the width has been set at 32 cm for kimono and obi (kimono sash). The firm also uses artificial intelligence to find weaving patterns. The 32 cm width is inconvenient for other uses like fashion and interior decoration, Hosoo president Masao Hosoo told a Japanese daily.Japan's Hosoo Corp., which has been producing Nishijin-ori, a traditional textile, for more than 300 years in Kyoto prefecture, has developed machines that can weave the silk textile with a width of 150 cm. Traditionally, the width has been set at 32 cm for kimono and obi (kimono sash). The firm also uses artificial intelligence to find weaving patterns.#
The machines were displayed recently at the Global Innovation Value Summit in Tokyo organised by the Nagoya-based International Academic Forum.
Decades ago, kimono had annual sales of about ¥2 trillion, but that has now shrunk to about ¥28 billion due to lifestyle changes, said Hosoo.
This makes it important for the company to innovate so that the traditional silk textile can be used in new kind of apparel products, he added. (DS)
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