ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has signed an agreement with WILD THINGS LLC (headquartered in Rhode Island, United States; Edward M. Schmults, CEO; hereinafter “WILD THINGS”) to secure exclusive import/distribution and master license rights for the WILD THINGS brand in the Japanese market. The full-scale release of the brand will commence from the 2016 autumn-winter season.

The WILD THINGS brand was founded in 1981 by Marie Meunier, a noted mountaineer who was the first woman to summit Aconcagua, the highest point of the Andes, and her husband and American mountaineer John Bouchard. The husband and wife team set up shop in New Hampshire, an area surrounded by a challenging natural environment and no shortage of skilled climbers. Leveraging the knowledge and experience they gained as mountaineers, they coined the motto “Light is right” and designed a large variety of attire and goods for serious mountain climbing, growing WILD THINGS into one of the United States’ premier outdoor brands both in name and substance. The brand also actively employs new materials and still garners the support of many professional mountain climbers today thanks to the superior functionality of its products. What’s more, the brand’s functional attire designed for thermal protection and rugged luggage have been used by the United States military on an ongoing basis.

In the Japanese market, the WILD THINGS brand has expanded through sales channels such as import-centric specialty stores and select shops since 1988. Recently, there was an alignment in the directions pursued by WILD THINGS, which seeks to strengthen branding of WILD THINGS in the Japanese market and ITOCHU, which is looking to introduce brands with high added value and superior quality with future Asian expansion in mind, and this culminated in the signing of the agreement. Looking ahead, in five years’ time ITOCHU aims to generate two billion yen on a retail sales basis by targeting 30s and 40s men and women experienced in outdoor activities, leveraging its diverse sales channels through INS Co., Ltd. for apparel and JKV JAPAN CO., LTD. for bags.