Happy New Year.
As we enter the New Year, I sincerely wish you good health and happiness, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that this year will be one of even greater leaps forward.
Having celebrated our milestone 75th anniversary in 2025, we have started the year 2026. This year’s first Goldwin Voices features an exclusive interview with Takao Watanabe (President and CEO), who will share candid insights on various topics, including epoch-making events, the philosophy of monozukuri (the art of making things), the company’s current situation and outlook, and memories of the late Tosaku Nishida, the company’s founder.
”Never follow the crowd” — My Challenge for 2026
The year 2026 will mark the third year of our Five-Year Medium-Term Management Plan. President Watanabe’s message remains unwavering.
“Although we have entered the new year, my approach will not change, but 2026 marks two years since we launched our Medium-Term Management Plan in FY2025.3. It’s a time to fully reflect on that period while simultaneously preparing for the future. I see us getting ready to take flight by first planting our feet firmly on the ground. As a company committed to a significant theme—protecting and regenerating the planet while enjoying the process with our customers—we will identify where we stand now and from where we will take flight. I believe that if we continue taking solid steps forward for one to two years, the path ahead will naturally reveal itself.”
THE NORTH FACE will continue to cultivate new markets outside the apparel segment, including footwear and backpacks with the brand’s signature features like high comfort and functionality, while leveraging the supply chain’s strengths. Of course, this applies to brands other than THE NORTH FACE. “Whether that’s HELLY HANSEN or canterbury, there are many more things we can do to fully utilize our trademark rights in Japan,” says Watanabe. After opening stores primarily in mainland China in 2025, the Goldwin brand will launch global flagship stores in 2026 in major cities like London (UK), Seoul (Korea), and New York City (US). While accommodating local features and demands, “we will make sure that the essence of Japanese aesthetics and attitudes like delicacy, thoughtfulness, preciseness, and simplicity will be reflected in customer communication to establish the Goldwin brand across the regions where the stores will open.” (Watanabe).
Asked about his challenge for 2026, he immediately answered, “Never follow the crowd.” This, too, is not just New Year’s talk either—it’s what Watanabe says all the time.
“For the Goldwin brand, we aim to achieve global sales of 50 billion yen by FY2033.3. However, achieving this sales target is not the objective in itself. This goal is merely a stepping stone; beyond this, we seek to enable people around the world to experience sports as something intimately integrated with daily life through our products. Aside from products, we will expand the possibility of sports and have people experience living in harmony with nature while embracing humanity through Play Earth Park Naturing Forest, a nature experience facility set to open in 2027. Looking even further beyond, we may partner with not only domestic but also international parties to launch nature experience facilities across the globe. Of course, this is still in the conceptual phase for now.
By doing something that other sports brands are not, we can further clarify our position. By clarifying who we intend to be, all our new initiatives will make sense on their own without needing to explain why a manufacturer will operate a nature experience facility. In landscaping terms, this is called a ‘vista.’ I believe everything will become visible like a single road stretching ahead.” (Watanabe).
Insights from an Era of Division: “PLAY EARTH” Emerges from the Pandemic
For Watanabe, 2025 also marked a milestone as the fifth year since he assumed the presidency. He looks back on the past five years since taking on the role in 2020, a year that coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We began with roughly 6 billion yen in sales vanishing due to temporary store shutdowns. Despite limited resources, I knew the pandemic would eventually end, and subsequently, visitors from around the world would come to Japan. To prepare, I was going to enhance our store design and solidify our strategy to become a major local player before targeting global niche markets. We were able to advance what I had envisioned in 2020 over the course of three years. As a result, we accelerated our international expansion in 2024 and 2025, and are currently seeing strong traction in mainland China.
Following the social division amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people were reminded of the importance of helping and cooperating with one another. This has triggered the “Play Earth” project, which explores the connection between people and nature through various experiences, including recreation, basic needs, learning, and beauty. “Play Earth Park Naturing Forest,” themed after living in harmony with nature, will be designed as a place where people from Japan and around the world can connect. Looking back, the crisis itself became the catalyst for opportunity.” (Watanabe).
If the business had been outperforming, he might have leaned toward maintaining the status quo. However, the challenging environment over these five years as president has instilled in him a determination to move forward while making firm decisions, even on matters he might otherwise have hesitated over or left ambiguous.
“As the saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss. My curiosity and delight in constantly discovering new things have remained unchanged since my teenage years to age 66. How I spend time may have changed. I now act more quickly. The stone is rolling faster.” (Watanabe).
New Value and Future Emerging from Layers of the Past
“I learned by observing our late founder, Tosaku Nishida, how a leader should be,” says Watanabe. From the late 1970s to the early 1980s—Watanabe’s high school and college years—the company signed licensing agreements with global prestigious brands like Fusalp, Champion, ellesse, and THE NORTH FACE and distributed their products in Japan. In those days, POPEYE—a leading youth cultural magazine launched in 1976—introduced Californian contemporary lifestyles to Japan, seamlessly integrating skateboarding, surfing, tennis, and skiing into everyday culture. “To me, our company represented such new lifestyles.” (Watanabe).
After joining the company that handled brands he had long admired, he has spent more than 30 years—starting in his fourth year—working with THE NORTH FACE and helping it grow into our flagship brand. Watanabe says, “Without Tosaku’s support, I wouldn’t be here now.”
“In my late twenties through my thirties, I dedicated myself to development work, determined to make THE NORTH FACE in Japan even better than in the US. However, in 1999, when I was the business department manager, our company temporarily transferred the trademark right to Mitsui & Co., Ltd. It was a time when the post-bubble economic downturn coincided with the peak and subsequent decline of the ski boom. Under these difficult circumstances, I approached Tosaku with a proposal to launch a new business venture where urban residents would incorporate sportswear into their everyday wear, not just for outdoor activities. Some questioned the timing of my idea given our business situation. But Tosaku said, ‘Go for it with pride and confidence. If you put your heart into it, the results will follow.’ After 25 years, I still remember how happy his words made me feel.” (Watanabe).
Then, in 2000, he was appointed as Manager of THE NORTH FACE Department and had to focus on strengthening the business. Therefore, the new business launch he was working on ended up being shelved before making it to market.
However, having the founder encourage him with the words ‘Take young people’s ideas seriously’ became powerful fuel for Watanabe. The words served as the driving force as he rapidly advanced the establishment of the self-operated store business model centered on store development—a model that continues to this day. Of course, back in 2000, many opposed the idea of opening self-operated stores, as that would make us compete with department stores and sports goods retailers that had served as our primary distribution channels for many years. However, without self-operated stores, there was only so much we could do to convey the quality of our products to our customers, no matter how much we improved them. Cultivated over the past 25 years, the store operation know-how of expressing a brand’s values through the space itself is currently playing a key role in global expansion.
“One of the late founder’s sayings was ‘Be ambitious and aim for the sky.’ I interpret this as ‘if you try what seems impossible, others will support you, helping you make the impossible possible.’ This has been my professional guiding principle. If Tosaku was right in front of me now, I would want to ask him if I’m living up to his words.
In the 1980s, Tosaku was already urging us to conquer the world. I hope that people across the globe will think that our work is meaningful and that our business has improved their lifestyles and brought joy to their lives. Currently, 90% of our sales come from Japan and less than 10% from overseas. But my long-term goal is to balance our domestic and international sales.” (Watanabe).
The future is built on layers of the past. Watanabe believes that imagination comes from a multitude of experiences.
“The future is not something you wait for, but something you create for yourself. We would like to remain a company that continues to create new things and new value. Each employee enjoys their favorite sports and tries to share the joy with many people. In Japan, as many as 2,000 sales personnel continue building their experiences daily through customer communication. I hope you will look forward to the future that will emerge from this wealth of imagination.” (Watanabe).
Takao Watanabe
President and CEO
Born in 1960. In 1982, Watanabe joined Goldwin partly because it operates THE NORTH FACE in Japan. For over thirty years from 1986 onward, he has engaged in the THE NORTH FACE business, playing a key role in elevating it into the company’s flagship business. He has served as Director and Corporate Officer, Manager of THE NORTH FACE Department (2005); Director and Managing Officer, Deputy General Manager of Business Administration Division, General Manager of Outdoor Style Division, General Manager of Helly Hansen Division, and General Manager of Direct Marketing Promotion Department (2010); Director and Executive Vice President, General Manager of Business Administration Division (2017); President Representative Director (2020). In 2025, he assumed his current position as President and CEO. He is deeply committed to preserving the global environment and supporting children who will shape the future. He still has a THE NORTH FACE Sierra Parka from the 1970s that changed his life—one he says he could never throw away.
The information provided, job titles and affiliations are current as of the time of the interview.
This serial Project is intended to help shareholders and investors understand our management policies, plans, financial situation, etc., and is not intended to solicit investment.
