Thank you for your continued patronage of LOVST TOKYO.
We would like to inform you about our stance and future direction regarding the terms "apple leather" and "grape leather" used for our products.
This year, JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) announced that the term "leather" "is limited to animal hides whose original fibrous structure is largely maintained and which have been tanned to prevent decay."
Following this, we confirmed with JIS and received a response that this announcement does not legally prohibit the use of terms such as "apple leather" or "grape leather."
Rather, it is a differentiation of terms implemented from the perspective of "ensuring that consumers do not confuse animal leather with synthetic leather."
In other words, we understand that brands like ours, which deal with plant-derived synthetic and artificial leather, are now required to provide more detailed and clearer explanations to ensure consumers do not confuse them with "animal leather."
Therefore, we will continue to sell our products, clearly stating "synthetic leather" or "artificial leather" on product pages, material explanation pages, and product tags, without discontinuing the use of terms such as "apple leather" and "grape leather," which our users are already familiar with.
We have already received several inquiries asking, "Can it no longer be called apple leather?", and we are very grateful for your warm concern.
Although we are still a small company, we will continue to work even harder on product planning and development with conviction, ensuring that we are not drowned out by larger societal voices, to deliver new forms of fashion that are as considerate of animals and the environment as "leather" itself.
We look forward to your continued support.
LOVST TOKYO Representative Director Kaito Karasawa
