is a Japanese clothing brand with its registered head office in

Ayabe Ayabe (Japanese:綾部) may refer to: Places *Ayabe, Kyoto, a city in the Kyoto Prefecture. * Ayabe Domain, a feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period * Mount Ayabe, a mountain in Tatsuno, Hyōgo, Japan People * Kakeru Ayabe (綾部翔, born ...

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

, its

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

head office, and a

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

office. It was established on August 10, 1896, by Tsurukichi Hatano, and was originally known as Gunze Silk Manufacturing Co., Ltd. . The company started the Gunze Blue-Mountain Underwear brand in association with

Daiei , based in Kobe, Hyōgo, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Marubeni ...

in 1962, and this brand was used for all sexes before the introduction of the Christie brand for women in 1968. In a three-year period from 1962 the brand made up 6 percent of Daiei's turnover of underwear. It began selling its clothing in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in 2000. The company's flagship outlet is in

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesandō, Tokyo, Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 Japanese a ...

.Cole, Shaun. ''The Story of Men's Underwear''. Parkstone International, May 8, 2012. , 9781780428826. p
123
"The Japanese, Osaka based underwear company Gunze, ..in the flagship store opened in the fashionable Harijuku area of Tokyo in 2010."

References

External links

Gunze

Gunze
Companies based in Osaka Textile companies of Japan Clothing brands Underwear brands {{Japan-company-stub