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Kawaii Import And Distribution Services
The Right Place for Cute Character and Fancy Goods
Mission Statement
The kawaii industry can be considered as en emerging niche market.
Kawaii Import and Distribution Services was established in Oct. 2006
upon the acqusition of a San-X wholesale operation, namely San-X Direct, from IS Group, New York, New York. Our company mission is to provide fun, cute and fancy merchandise for retailers, such as gift shops, boutiques, and record stores. Our goal is to provide the best customer service we can to our clients because ultimately the success of our retailer clients is our success.
Kawaii means cute in Japanese. It’s a particular style of Japanese aesthetic and design applied to various items from wallets, to stationery, stickers, plush toys, key chains, and house wares. This kawaii merchandising concept is similar to Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc., except that the stationery companies design the characters and their stories are frequently told through merchandise, and sometimes supported by picture books, and short flash animation clips on the internet. The storyboard often evolves continuously over several years with the release of new series.
We decided from the inception to focus on the young adult and tween market by tapping into a lesser-known, quirky character and fancy good company of San-X, Japan. We chose San-X because their characters are designed to have a wide appeal to both male and female and to both kids and adults alike. Generally, the San-X characters have a lot more depth with storyboards, and even personality flaws, that many grown-ups can identify with and relate to. For example, one of San-X’s characters is Kogepan, which means burnt bread in Japanese. Kogepan was left in the oven too long accidentally and he was burnt consequently. Because nobody wants to buy burnt bread, Kogepan felt rejected, although all he wanted to be was to be like the other perfectly baked breads in the bakery. Kogepan developed some bad habits in his search of life fulfillment, like getting drunk on milk with his other burnt bread buddies. He also went through several adventures where he ran away from the bakery and toured different regions of Japan. Overtime, he gained many bread friends, both burnt and perfectly baked breads, like strawberry bread, chocolate bread, etc. With the introduction of Kogepan’s new bread friend, San-X releases a new series of Kogepan products.
Another reason we chose San-X was its uniqueness and branding. It is hard to find in local stores, but it has a growing following, particularly with the ever-growing interests in Japanese pop culture, from Nintendo to Naruto. With the young generation being so well-versed on the internet, Live Journals and My Space have also helped to spread the name of San-X. The target market of San-X is quite a wide range, from school children and high schoolers, to college students and young professionals.
Kawaii Import & Distribution Services is based at Irwin, Pennsylvania, USA.
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