The Goldwin Story About

Goldwin’s founder, Tosaku Nishida, was born in Nishitonami County, Toyama. The youngest of eight siblings in a farming family, Tosaku lost both his eldest and third oldest brothers to World War II. After his second oldest brother left home, the responsibility of providing for the remaining members of the family fell to Tosaku.
Everyone struggled to survive back then. Because he had experience working at a textile mill and his brother-in-law was an engineer at a knit fabric company in Tokyo, Tosaku decided to start a knit fabric factory himself.
The business was established in 1950 in what was then Tsuzawa town (the present Oyabe City). Its incorporation the following year as Tsuzawa Knit Fabric Co., Ltd. marked the beginning of the company now known as GOLDWIN.
Headed by Tosaku’s brother-in-law, who had been injured during the war, the factory employed some 20 workers consisting of knit fabric makers, women in the family who had lost their husbands in the war, and other women from the neighborhood who needed to bring money to their families. Working in a 130 m2 factory, they began making socks, belly bands, vests, and sweaters. Literally, it was a start from scratch.
This family-like, warm atmosphere is very much alive in GOLDWIN’s corporate culture today.

At first, the company’s products were flying off the shelves because of postwar shortages. However, as more sophisticated products began to arrive from other production areas, sales declined. To recover, the company had no other option but to keep on making good products. Single-minded, wholehearted dedication: that was their only asset.
In the midst of it all, the company’s hiking socks were earning praise for their high quality. With its obsession for the quality of yarn, the company produced socks that were far from cheap but were durable and long lasting. The company’s newly earned reputation was a testament to its vision for making high-end products.
Tosaku was a visionary. The news that Hironoshin Furuhashi—nicknamed “the flying fish of Fujiyama”—set world records in the 1,500 m freestyle at the U.S. National Championships brightened the mood of a nation still reeling from the war. It was then that Tosaku sensed a golden age of sports was on its way in postwar Japan, and made the drastic decision to switch to sportswear manufacturing in 1952, three years after the company was founded.
This was a major decision that laid the foundation for today’s GOLDWIN and dramatically expanded the range of its product lineup.

In 1964, Tosaku traveled to Europe to study the Innsbruck Winter Olympics for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
During those days it took 30 hours to reach Rome from Tokyo. Traveling overseas for the first time, Tosaku crisscrossed Europe for an entire month, visiting Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Norway, and Denmark. One of his major goals was to observe, with his own eyes, the difference between Japanese and European technologies.
Tosaku was especially impressed by France’s Fusalp skiwear. The experience made him realize the hard truth: unless Japan mastered the technology to produce functional, sophisticated products, neither its sportswear manufacturers nor its athletes would ever surpass the world.
Tosaku was not the only one in Japan who had his eye on overseas technology. But with Tosaku’s energy and determination, he rose above his rivals. This experience laid the foundation for building the future relationships between GOLDWIN and many overseas manufacturers. The founder’s sights were always set on the world.

The 1964 Tokyo Summer Games were the first Olympics to be held in Asia. Goldwin produced uniforms for several Japanese national teams, including women’s volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics. Eighty percent of Japanese gold medalists wore uniforms we produced.
The previous year, we had changed the name of the company from Tsuzawa Knit Fabric Manufacturer to Goldwin, with the hope that more Japanese athletes would win gold. When this wish became reality, word of mouth spread about the reliability of our meticulous manufacturing, and we became known as the “Goldwin” of quality.

After scoring a hit with Fusalp’s skiwear and realizing the potential of overseas brands, Goldwin focused on the Italian brand Ellesse, which represented a sharp contrast to the French brand. Gaining recognition with the rise of Italy’s national team at the time, Ellesse’s products showcased the unique Italian beauty. Its design was particularly strong in its signature ski pants. Ellesse was a pioneer of new technologies in such areas as material development and pattern-making through draping. Its founder, the descendant of an Italian aristocrat, succeeded in translating his passion into Ellesse’s noble yet aggressive sportswear. GOLDWIN’s relationship with Ellesse later extended from skiwear to tennis and other sports.

The North Face was established in 1968 in Berkeley, a city on the west coast of the United States. From the very start, the company founders were bubbling with passion and originality. Located a 30-minute drive from San Francisco, Berkeley then was buzzing with youthful energy, which added a unique edge to the brand.
In 1978, GOLDWIN began the distribution of The North Face products. With its stringent quality control, comprehensive after service, and meticulous pursuit of functionality, the global outdoor brand quickly spread its name in Japan. It was the reliability of The North Face products—which had a loyal following among many well-known outdoor adventurers around the world—that found enormous support among young people in Japan looking for heavy-duty gear.
The North Face’s signature products range from high-end sleeping bags made with an abundance of high-quality goose down; Sierra Parkas, the origin of all down parkas; and Oval Intention, the world’s first dome tent. Each one of these is a testament to how The North Face continues to push the technological envelope to a new level.

In 1877, Helly Juell Hansen retired as the captain of a merchant ship and began producing oilskin tarpaulins soaked in linseed oil in Moss, a port city in Norway. Since then Helly Hasen has grown into one of the most established waterproof garment makers in the world. Sailors around the world have embraced Helly Hansen’s waterproof fabric technology cultivated in response to Norway’s severe climate, including its proprietary waterproof fabric Helly Tech and Welder sewing technology. Helly Tech’s survival suits—which guarantee at least 9 hours of life-sustaining functions even in an Arctic sea full of drift ice—reveal the high level of its technology. Goldwin signed a license agreement with Helly Hansen in 1983.

Our main products at the time, accounting for roughly 95% of total sales, were ski wear by Goldwin and Elesse and athletic apparel by Champion and others.
The North Face was then an outdoor brand with low visibility loved by a small coterie of climbers. We had become one of the brand’s distributors in 1978 but had no idea which of its products would sell.
So we decided to open a directly managed store to interface with customers and better understand what they were looking for. Since no sporting goods manufacturer had ever directly managed a store before, the attempt was totally unwelcomed by the retail industry, and opening the store presented many difficulties.
The store was named WEATHER STATION out of concern that calling it The North Face would further antagonize retailers. It became the first under the business model that we further developed and established later, of a sporting goods brand directly managing a store.

In 2003, Yuichiro Miura, a professional skier and adventurer, became the oldest person ever to summit Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain, at the age of 70 years and 7 months. Miura, who had already completed many adventures, took on this challenge with a desire to impart energy and courage to others of his generation. The North Face backed his climb with clothing and equipment that met and exceeded performance challenges, being lightweight while adapting to sudden temperature changes, wicking sweat away quickly, and overcoming unforeseen trials.

C3fit is engineered around the concept of “wearing athletic functions” — that compression wear can work on physical and motor functions to comfortably support every movement and improve the overall condition of the body. Within the C3fit line, our Performance Tights and Performance Gaiters are sold as general medical devices. A new concept in this field, C3fit compression wear not only aids the performance of many top athletes, it is also chosen by many for everyday wear.

In 2015, Spiber and Goldwin launched a joint research and development project to commercialize next-generation protein materials, and prototyped MOON PARKA, an outer jacket based on one of The North Face’s flagship products, the Antarctica Parka. This was the world’s first synthetic spider silk product successfully manufactured on an apparel production line, and it represented a major step forward in the practical application of next-generation protein materials, which had previously been considered too problematic.

Goldwin Tech Lab utilizes technological capabilities cultivated over the 67 years since Goldwin’s inception to create breakthrough products with previously unimagined values. The research and development facility includes a 3D scanner room, a motion study lab, a constant temperature and humidity room, and a unique inspection system to ensure the high quality of our products.
Established in Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture — the birthplace of our company — GOLDWIN TECH LAB brings together our institutional knowledge with state-of-the-art technology and equipment to keep us at the forefront of sportswear research and development.

Goldwin’s jersey for the 2019 Japan National Rugby Team was considered the team’s best ever. To surpass that success for 2023, we came up with an idea that involved the participation of fans.
In the polyester product collection project, used sportswear was collected from rugby/sports fans across the country, and then chemically recycled into new polyester material. The thought was that metaphorically weaving their precious memories and hopes for the team into the jerseys would strengthen the bond between fans and players, and reaffirm a spirit of solidarity.
The collection campaign was held in July 2011 at Canterbury shops nationwide and at Tokyo National Stadium, the venue for the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2022 match between Japan and France. A total of 1,266 pieces of clothing were collected, to be reborn as the Japan National Rugby Team jerseys for 2023.