Cheap Jeans Rule in Japan

TOKYO — Luxury and premium denim brands from around the world have long looked to Japan for production of top-quality jeans in the most novel and technologically advanced finishes, but the country also represents a denim market that, while gradually decreasing in size, remains robust.

Japan’s jeans market was valued at 598.7 billion yen, or $7.48 billion at current exchange rates, in 2011, according to Euromonitor International. In 2008, the market was valued at 699.6 billion yen, or $8.74 billion.