The transition of Kawaii culture
Swimmer, a legendary brand of “Yume kawaii (dreamy cute)” products, has recently announced to discontinue their operation.
They specialize in stationery, home accessories, apparel, etc. Many from 小学生(Syou-gaku-sei/Elementary school students) to 大人(O-to-na/adult) have been loving them as an iconic kawaii brand for 3 decades. However, the company will completely put the final period at the end of their business in January 2018. One of the main reasons for their closure is the difficulty of maintaining an affordable price range. Raising products' prices could have been an option for them, however, Swimmer is such a passionate company to accomplish their mission of distributing Kawaii products to a wide range of people as possible, thus, Swimmer has chosen to discontinue the operation.
Their statement immediately went viral via the internet and social media.
Many Japanese girls and women have expressed grief and freaked out because their affordable and good old classic products will be gone soon. On social media, people have talked about the sadness of losing such a one-and-only brand in the world. Some reportedly even went shopping and urgently bought a lot of stuff at Swimmer before all their shops closed.
The transformation of what Japanese people think Kawaii has found.
In response to people's enormous response to the news of Swimmer's close down, an interview to swimmer was conducted by Cancan, a Japanese fashion magazine(The original online article is from https://cancam.jp/archives/432300).
A press of Swimmer mentioned in the interview, during a period of 90’s to 2000 the popular products were a retro and pop type of kawaii.
ひづめみか〜るさんの個展に行って来ました。夢のような空間でした…。サインと、一緒にお写真も撮っていただきました♡宝物にします#ひづめみかーる #ひづめみか〜る #個展 #swimmer #スイマー https://t.co/ijQEseMMz7 pic.twitter.com/vZo74G38YB
— 亜沙美 (@rokoroko1199) 2017年8月26日
Compared to the past decade, nowadays, “Yume Kawaii”, which usually described as dreamy and pastel colored is the mainstream of kawaii.
♡スイマー新商品♡
— 閉店しました (@swimmercarol) July 23, 2016
[きら星キャッスル]
¥4500+税
人気のファニチャーシリーズに大きめのアクセスタンドが登場です💖
ゆめかわいいインテリアやアクセを置くととっても可愛いですよ！✨(ू•ω•ू❁) pic.twitter.com/vcBMGWHLBS
These days, Japanese girls and women's tastes of fashion and accessories seem to be more diverse than before. That could be considered as a sign of women and girls becoming to care less. The diversity of people's preference could let them be free from what society thinks who they should be. Even without one of the powerful makers that have been supporting constructing of Kawaii culture, the “Kawaii” diversity must be carried on.
