Beyond Financial Figures—Goldwin’s Current State and Aspirations for the FutureGoldwin Voices

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new investor relations series Goldwin Voices. Conventionally, on our IR page, we have been providing relevant information, including management strategies, financial status, medium-term management plans, and shareholder return measures. Going forward, in addition to our IR measures designed to attract the interest of domestic individual investors and overseas investors, we are introducing our monozukuri (the art of making things), kotozukuri (creating values), kankyozukuri (creating places and opportunities), and various other initiatives through our management and staff.

In the series’ first issue, Takero Kaneda (Director CSO, Managing Director and General Manager of the General Planning Division) talks about the background and objectives behind the launch our IR series as the head of IR. “The newly implemented shareholder return measures, shareholder benefit plan, and stock split are part of our efforts to acquire long-term fans,” says Kaneda. Let’s explore his true intentions behind this statement.

Increasing Awareness of Goldwin

Only three out of 100 university students—that was how many students responded “yes” when Kaneda asked if they had heard of Goldwin at the start of the university lecture he was teaching. Subsequently, when he asked if they had heard of The North Face, 80% of the students said they had. In 1994, we obtained the trademark rights of The North Face, the US’s outdoor brand. Since then, we have been planning, developing, and distributing our own The North Face products for the Japanese market for over 30 years. As a result, the brand is now known to college students as casual wear that is stylish and functional. This represents a uniquely Japanese product line, setting it apart from the American products that are mainly geared toward hardcore mountaineering wear. But the reality is that university students, general consumers, and even the stock market still have little awareness that it is a company called Goldwin behind these achievements.

“From an IR perspective, the first step is ensuring people understand who Goldwin is. I believe we need to persistently and consistently communicate what kind of a company Goldwin is and what we aim to achieve,” says Kaneda.

Visualizing Our Current Location in the Challenging Journey

We can only distribute The North Face products in Japan and Korea, where we hold the brand’s trademark rights. To continue growing, we need to tap into overseas markets with our proprietary brands. That is why we have launched a project to nurture the Goldwin brand as the next pillar of growth, aiming to achieve overseas net sales of about 50 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2033.

“As we embark on this challenging project, I found it problematic that we currently do not disclose net sales of the Goldwin brand. Simply showing the target of 50 billion yen is not enough because you cannot see how we will be able to achieve it without knowing our current position. Therefore, I have decided to disclose net sales of Goldwin and The North Face, which are our flagship brands. One year after the project launch in April 2024, the Goldwin brand’s net sales for the fiscal year ended March 2025 were 4.4 billion yen. I understand that disclosing figures from a 10-year timeframe may cause misunderstanding and other issues.

However, I believe that to instill confidence in our shareholders and encourage them to hold our shares for a long time, it is essential to continuously show them our roadmap, demonstrating our staff’s passionate dedication to achieving our goals and their struggles, including what we haven’t achieved yet. We disclose this information because we want our stakeholders to share in our excitement as they watch our progress,” says Kaneda.

Sharing Our Journey of Innovation as Transparently as Our Financial Results

Of course, it is important to accurately disclose our quarterly and annual earnings. However, Kaneda stresses the importance of the company’s medium-to-long-term initiatives. For IR, he emphasizes transparent disclosure and fostering empathy over the medium-to-long term.

“While short-term figures such as financial results and stock price movements are obviously important, we want to avoid IR activities that are assessed based only on short-term gains. We approach our proprietary brands like Goldwin and NEUTRALWORKS. with the same dedication as The North Face. We package entire lifestyles—experiences, time, and space—that are linked to our products. We want to consistently and persistently communicate what we aim to achieve and how we plan to realize it.

For example, environmental issues pose significant challenges for our outdoor business, which accounts for a large portion of our net sales, including our flagship brand The North Face. However, there is only so much we can do alone, isn’t there? By proposing lifestyles and relationships with nature through our business, we aim to attract supporters and fans who resonate with our approach, moving forward together toward shared objectives. By carefully explaining our commitment and our approaches to these challenges, I hope we can get as many individual investors as possible to support our aspirations,” says Kaneda.

Envisioning a Cycle Connecting Things, Values, Places, and Opportunities

Our core business of sports, particularly outdoor activities, takes place in natural settings. As we solve more social and environmental issues and expand initiatives to live in harmony with nature, our business will thrive as well. This is why our monozukuri—a commitment to materials that has continued since our founding in pursuit of functionality—has expanded into kotozukuri and further into kankyozukuri to make nature more abundant. Our job does not end with simply selling products. Rather, we create opportunities to cultivate empathy such as tours and experiences that advocate living in harmony with nature, thereby playing a part in the circular economy. Play Earth Park Naturing Forest, scheduled to open in Toyama Prefecture in early summer 2027, is one of the projects that embodies our company’s philosophy.

“Visitors to Play Earth Park in Toyama Prefecture, where the company was founded, can learn and understand important things to protect our planet while enjoying the natural environment. Whether you experience something makes a significant difference in how well you understand it, doesn’t it? The expansive land spanning about 40 hectares near Sakuragaike, Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, is known, as the name suggests, for its beautiful nature and cherry blossoms. At the same time, the area also faced challenges associated with abandoned farmland, including deteriorating landscapes, damage caused by wildlife, and increased risk of natural disasters. Therefore, rather than returning the land to wilderness, we are focusing our design and development efforts on stopping the loss of natural environment and biodiversity and putting them on track for recovery. The facility is expected to provide an immersive environment where both adults and children can experience the concept of “nature positive” (nature restoration). Of course, this park will also serve as a place to promote our products, showing visitors how convenient these products are for recreational activities in natural settings,” says Kaneda.

IR Activities Also Emphasize Long-Term Fan Building

We are actively developing products that address environmental and climate change challenges, such as the innovative heat-shielding material used in the uniforms we designed for the Osaka-Kansai Expo pavilion staff. Kaneda believes that purchasing such eco-friendly products itself demonstrates empathy. Most recently, effective October 1, 2025, we implemented a 3-for-1 stock split. Additionally, we established a shareholder benefit plan (interim shareholder benefit) offering discount coupons of 20 to 40% for use on our comprehensive online store, Goldwin Online Store, based on the number of shares held and the duration of ownership. Once again, the keyword is empathy.

“We would like individual investors to be our fans that will support our vision, products, and values for a long period of time. We will enhance our IR activities with initiatives such as stock splits, dividend reviews, and attractive benefits to incentivize individual investors to hold our shares as our fans for a long period of time. Holding IR events where participants can touch and learn about our products may be nice, too. These special IR interviews will highlight the passion of our employees and senior management, which numerical figures like earnings, financial data, and stock prices alone cannot convey. We appreciate your continued attention,” says Kaneda.