May 18, 2026
TOKYO – Retailers are turning to so-called recovery wear in the fight to preserve the apparel market, which is shrinking due to population decline. Made from special fibers that promote blood circulation, recovery wear is said to help relieve fatigue.
There are hopes that the clothing will not just be purchased as everyday items but also as a gift for such occasions as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Aeon Retail Co., operator of the Aeon hypermarket chain, expanded its EX Celliant recovery wear line in February from undergarments to also include loungewear. The clothing is made of a special fiber material embedded with minerals that emit far-infrared radiation to promote blood circulation. Its long-sleeve T-shirt and long pants are priced at ¥5,478 each, with a short-sleeve T-shirt coming in at ¥4,378.
“We aim to capture demand from families busy with work and child-rearing,” said the head of Aeon Retail’s apparel division, adding that the company aims to increase the line’s sales in 2026 to 10 times the 2025 level.
Leading workwear retailer Workman Co. has begun selling its worker-oriented Mediheal line to the general public. The company released a new budget line in February, with a top and bottom set priced in the ¥2,000-¥3,000 range, and sold 1.2 million pieces in the first week alone. Workman has set a goal of selling 21 million pieces a year, with an aim of popularizing recovery wear and securing the top spot in the category.
Furniture retailer Nitori Co. entered the recovery wear market in January, releasing low-price items such as a ¥1,490 T-shirt that it touts as having antibacterial and odor-resistant properties. Men’s apparel company Haruyama Trading Co. and sports gym operator Rizap Group, Inc. entered the market in November.
The companies anticipate demand not only among people purchasing items for everyday use but also those purchasing them as a gift.
Market expansion
JMA Research Institute Inc. estimates that the recovery wear market will expand to ¥170 billion by 2030, about nine times its size in 2024. Driven by rising health consciousness, as well as a trend during the COVID-19 pandemic that found value in the comfort and functionality of loungewear, even products with prices in the tens of thousands of yen are selling well.
Recovery wear was initially targeted at athletes, with sales starting around 2010. Its popularity spread in the 2020s through TV commercials and other channels, leading more companies to begin releasing similar products. This prompted the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to establish “home-use far-infrared blood circulation-promoting clothing” as a new category of general medical devices in 2022.
For a maker to be allowed to make claims about efficacy, a product must meet the Japan Association of Medical Devices Industries’ standards and be registered with the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. This has supported the market by making it easier for major companies to enter and reassuring consumers.
“Recovery wear that offers functionality and experiential value tends to maintain a certain price range, and it is easy to preserve profit margins,” said Naoko Kuga, a senior researcher at NLI Research Institute, adding that their functions and prices will likely become more diverse in the future.