Back home in Kyoto's famed Nishijin district, the heart of the city's textile industry, shops are struggling to remain in business

Back home in Kyoto's famed Nishijin district, the heart of the city's textile industry, shops are struggling to remain in business.

According to the Nishijin Textile Industry Association, domestic shipments of locally produced cloth peaked at over￥270 billion in 1990 but have since declined, falling to￥18.1 billion in 2020. With fewer and fewer people donning kimono these days, diversification is a top priority.

Hosoo became involved in the family business in 2008. He started by showcasing obi at overseas exhibitions, but an opportunity emerged the following year. A famous American architect asked to use the fabric as "shop wallpaper."

It was his chance to expand Nishijin textiles to interior decoration and other uses, but he faced a major challenge in repurposing the material.

Conventional looms can produce fabrics about 30 centimeters wide. Hosoo realized that unless he expanded the width of the materials to use as wallpaper or furnishings, the final product would be covered in stitching. It took about one year to build a loom that could produce textiles of 150 cm in width.