Keishi Ikeuchi Nowadays, many company presidents are engaged in environmental activities. However, their involvement is pointless if they use it as an “indulgence,” because it does not change the fact that their companies impose a heavy burden on the environment. Profile: Born in 1949 Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. Graduated from Department of Commercial Science, Hitotsubashi University. Joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd in1971.. In 1983 he joined Ikeuchi towel Co. Ltd. and became the representative director. In the year 2000 he became the sub-chief director of Shikoku towel industrial union. Audio mania that he appreciated exceeded 40 years. He has been absorbed in British Rock since the Beatles. In any oasis concert he is always the oldest fan. Chasing after Tokiko Kato is also energetic and he has visited the concert 50 times or more in 35 years.

The Kurushima Strait is famous for the Iyo seamen who sailed its waters during the Warring States Period. There is a poem dedicated to the Kurushima Strait that goes something like: “When I hear the roar of the whirling current of the Seto Inland Sea near Kurushima, I feel a surge of courage.” The Kurushima Strait ranks with the Naruto Strait and the Kanmon Strait as the three most stormy straits in Japan. The tide flows through the narrow and curved strait, altering its direction four times in a single day. The surface of the sea changes its color each and every second, reflecting the paths of the sun and the moon. And imagine this – towels designed after the image of the Kurushima Strait are now the talk of the town in New York

These towels are manufactured and marketed by a medium-size towel manufacturer with some 20 employees that is located in Imabari in Ehime Prefecture – a famous towel-producing region right on the shore of the Kurushima Strait. A pioneer in the industry in terms of environment protection efforts, this company covers 100% of its energy needs with wind-generated power, and striving for market expansion, is now making a breakthrough in the United States. The name of this company is Ikeuchi Towel.

Products that can be made only by Ikeuchi Towel and only in Imabari
The first foreign-made towels were brought to Imabari, a region that has boasted a flourishing textile industry since the Edo Period, in 1872. The development of the Iyo flannel textile in 1886 triggered the birth of the towel manufacturing industry, which continued on the path of expansion fueled by the economic growth after World War II. One specific feature of the Imabari production region is the system for specialization of labor in which the manufacturing flow is separated into 13-14 processes. Roughly these processes are as follows: production of yarns 4 dyeing 4 weaving 4 adjustment of colors 4 printing 4 embroidery 4 final needlework 4 inspection of finished products 4 shipment of products. Ikeuchi Towel handles planning, weaving and inspection of finished products internally and outsources the rest of the operations. Today, Imabari is confronted with the issue of import restrictions.

The family of Keishi Ikeuchi has been in the towel industry since his grandfather’s generation. The father of Keishi Ikeuchi started his own company – Ikeuchi Towel – in 1953, and Mr. Ikeuchi is his heir and the second-generation head of the company. He inherited Ikeuchi Towel from his father 20 years ago, when the towel industry was going through its period of greatest prosperity. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, Imabari’s share in the towel industry has sharply declined. Numerous Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, launched their domestic towel production and began to export their products to Japan at extraordinarily low prices. Eventually, in 1999, the volume of imports exceeded domestic production. Nowadays, 65% of the towels sold in Japan, are actually imported products.

That is why the towel industry asked the government of Japan to impose limits (emergency restrictions) on imports. Textile manufacturers, which in the past numbered some 500 companies, are now down to 200 companies, which is a more than a 50% drop.

“We are moved by the desire to protect Imabari as a major production region,” says Mr. Ikeuchi. “We won’t break the vicious cycle if we manufacture towels of the same quality as those produced by our Asian rivals. We intend to narrow our agenda to manufacturing products whose high quality is ensured by the fact that they can be produced only by Ikeuchi Towel and only in Imabari.”

Most of the imported towels are hard and have a rough texture. That is why Mr. Ikeuchi was determined to be meticulous about manufacturing towels with soft texture that is inherent to the cotton used as a raw material. Learning from his mistakes, Mr. Ikeuchi decided to try and change the threads used for weaving towels. Instead of the ordinary single thick and strong thread, he tried a combination of two thin and soft threads that are used in weaving dress shirts. He also changed the length of the loop to double its ordinary size.

This called for further ingenuous contrivances. Usually starch is applied to the threads to prevent breaking during weaving, and is washed afterwards. However, if the starch is not completely washed, it is impossible to achieve the original soft texture of the towels. In Imabari, where a system for specialization of labor exists, the process of washing the starch is handled by the thread-processing companies. Mr. Ikeuchi started from the overall concept of towels and enthusiastically explainedthat he wanted the processors to wash out the starch almost completely and to use only natural starch paste. In the end, his enthusiasm influenced and inspired his partners.

Mr. Ikeuchi strived not only to fine tune the technological capacities of his company, but also to improve the communication process in an industry where exchange of information had been rare, and to work in cooperation with other members of the industry through sharing of information. These efforts finally bore fruit when the extra-soft towel STRAITS COLOUR-SOLID was created.

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Ikeuchi Towel makes a great showing in New York
Armed with this exceptional product, in April 2002 Mr. Ikeuchi, driven by the spirit of his brave predecessors, the Iyo seamen, set off for the New York Home Textile Show 2002 Spring, one of the biggest exhibition events in the US. Ikeuchi Towel was the only Japanese company to participate in the event.

For two consecutive years previous to the participation in the New York Home Textile Show, Ikeuchi Towel had presented its products at the California Gift Show held in Los Angeles on the US West Coast, but this was Mr. Ikeuchi’s first attempt to “take over” the East Coast. Yet, as soon as it appeared in the New York show, the STRAITS COLOUR-SOLID series was awarded the Best New Product Award (the highest award of the event). This was an extremely great honor for Ikeuchi Towel, as the Best New Product Award is given only to five of the approximately 1000 companies from 32 countries around the world that present their products in the exhibition. Needless to say, the STRAITS COLOUR-SOLID was the first Japanese product distinguished with this high award.

The name of the product comes from the Kurushima Strait. Its stormy waters, which change their appearance each and every second depending on the natural conditions, are represented using different materials and threads with differing thicknesses. The STRAITS COLOUR SOLID was distinguished with the highest award because of its “miraculous softness” and its novel, yet delicate and refined, coloration. But the decisive factor for awarding the Best New Product Award to the STRAITS COLOUR SOLID was the environment-friendly management policy adopted by Ikeuchi Towel.

Thanks to this award, Ikeuchi Towel concluded contracts with five stores in the New York Soho district, one of the fashion centers of the world, and received invitations for sales negotiations from 30 companies. Mr. Ikeuchi started dreaming about expanding the company’s markets to Europe.

“It is naïve to think that manufacturing good products is enough to have your products highly rated,” says Mr. Ikeuchi. “When a small company like ours attempts to sell its products, its overall viability as a manufacturer is subjected to a close scrutiny. The ability to demonstrate a clear and definite management policy is what matters the most when it comes to winning customers’ loyalty.”

In the case of Ikeuchi Towel, by hammering out a clear policy to reduce environmental impact, the company is able to increase its profits, strive to achieve the best interests of its clients and consequently serve to protect this towel-production region. In fact, the good fight put up by Mr. Ikeuchi in New York resulted in the participation of the Shikoku Towel Industrial Association (STIA) in the New York Home Textile Show 2002 Autumn (Ikeuchi Towel is a member of STIA).

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The big turning point for Ikeuchi Towel
For most people the word “cotton” has a wholesome, healthy image. But the truth is that the cotton manufacturing process has a dark side that involves tremendous pollution of the soil with agricultural chemicals. The extent of this pollution is demonstrated by the fact that the cotton industry is responsible for 70% of all agricultural chemicals utilized worldwide. Furthermore, defoliation agents are used to accelerate harvest and as a result soil is damaged so badly that no agricultural products can ever be grown in cotton fields where several crops have been harvested.

Mr. Ikeuchi had for a long time been troubled by this reality. Organic agriculture had begun to attract attention since the beginning of the 1990s. But Ikeuchi Towel had acquired the EcoMark as early as the second half of the 1980s and had already launched activities for production of organic cotton. The company had also launched development of environment-friendly products. Towels are an essential item in our life, from the moment we are born to the moment we die. From the very beginning, Mr. Ikeuchi believed that it was only natural to give sufficient consideration to health. “Nevertheless, looking back, I can only feel ashamed of my lack of environmental awareness in those first years,” says Mr. Ikeuchi with a wry smile.

The turning point came quite unexpectedly. In 1996, the president of the Danish textile company Novotex came to Japan to present his company’s original organic cotton brand “Green Cotton.” The president also took pride in the Novotex original technology for wastewater treatment, and was explaining to the Japanese companies the necessity of such technology. It happened that the president heard, that in Imabari, Shikoku, there was a company that owned wastewater facilities superior to those of Novotex. The president decided that he could not go back home without seeing these facilities, and asked Mr. Ikeuchi for a tour of his plant.

The environmental regulations of the Seto Inland Sea are the strictest in the world, and in 1995 the group to which Ikeuchi Towel belonged had built wastewater treatment facilities compliant with those regulations. The facilities were so efficient that the wastewater released in the sea was clearer than the seawater. The president of Novotex was amazed to see how superior the wastewater treatment facilities were, but at the same time he harshly criticized Mr. Ikeuchi that despite building such superb facilities, he was quite ignorant regarding environmental issues.

“That is why I began attending attended lectures on these subjects. The complex and wide-ranging content of those lectures made me reflect on our past conduct with regard to the environment. It also helped me to keenly realize that the environment cannot be protected with half-baked measures and convinced me that Ikeuchi Towel must completely revise its environmental policy and make a fresh start. I felt that the rational concept of Novotex to strive for further improvement of quality through a sober self-evaluation of products based on an extensive record of scientific and objective findings is appropriate for Ikeuchi Towel as well.”

The firm resoluteness of Mr. Ikeuchi was rewarded in 1999 when Ikeuchi Towel obtained ISO14001. This became a huge turning point for the company. Ikeuchi Towel was the 20th ISO14001-certified company in Ehime Prefecture and the first one in the towel industry.

“The prefectural government invited me to give a lecture as the only president of an ISO-approved company with direct involvement in environment protection. The first row was occupied by the notorious “environment matrons” of Ehime. Since then, we have been invited to attend an ever-increasing number of environment-related meetings. This forced us to radically alter the management policy of the company.”

“Ikeuchi Towel maintains its relationship with the ‘environment matrons’ even today, and gathers inspiration and motivation from every meeting with them,” says Mr. Ikeuchi with a smile.

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True and reliable organic products
The president of Novotex, knowing that Mr. Ikeuchi had been very eager to obtain the ISO certification, provided the original technology “Green Cotton,” which was commercialized by Ikeuchi Towel as the “Organic Colour Solid” series.

The raw material, organic cotton produced in Peru, South America, without application of defoliation agents, is certified by KRAV (a Swedish certification organization). The threads are spun at a Swiss certified spinning factory. Chemicals with strong negative impact on the environment, such as chlorine bleaching, are avoided in the dyeing process.Dyes that do not contain heavy metals are applied, and then the finishing touches are applied using groundwater from Mount Ishizuchi. .

In order to further confirm the safety of its products, Ikeuchi Towel tests the finished articles at the Swiss certification organization Öko-Tex. Öko-Tex is an authoritative organization in the international certification industry and most European textile companies have acquired Öko-Tex certificates. Under the evaluation standard of Öko-Tex, products are assigned to one of three classes. Class III comprises products, such as curtains, that can be safely used for room decoration. Class II comprises products that can have direct contact with the skin. Class I comprises products that babies can safely put in their mouths. The products of Ikeuchi Towel are certified as Class I articles.

However, according to Mr. Ikeuchi, the concept that completely excludes use of chemicals does not always work. Towels are used every day, washed and then dried in the sun, and that is why they are required to be durable and maintain their quality. From the viewpoint that prolonging the life of products reduces the burden on the environment in the long run, it is necessary to use the required minimum of chemicals on the basis of appropriate scientific judgment. Also, even in the case of organic fields, it is possible to detect traces of agricultural chemicals that had seeped into the soil.

“The important thing in such cases is never to lie, and, of course, to disclose all relevant information. After all, the motto of Ikeuchi Towel is ‘True and reliable organic products’.”

It will still take some time before Ikeuchi Towel is able to use organic cotton exclusively in the production of towels instead of conventional cotton. (As of FY2001, 12% of the cotton was organic. By the way, only 0.1% of the cotton on the global market is organic.) However, in as much as the corporate activities of Ikeuchi Towel place a burden on the environment, the company is determined to manufacture towels capable of maintaining their initial quality as much as possible over the long term. Ikeuchi Towel will not adopt the materialistic pattern of production that encourages consumers to quickly discard their old towels in order to buy new ones. Mr. Ikeuchi is determined to make his company the indisputable number one environment-friendly towel manufacturer in Japan. His bold efforts are continuing.

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Mr. Ikeuchi’s determination has reached customers who demand quality towels.

At one point, the company saw a sudden and remarkable increase in Internet orders. Although this made him quite happy, Mr. Ikeuchi could not help but question the reasons behind the increase. One day, he received an inquiry from a person who said he had seen the name of the company in a certain website. Guessing that may be the reason for the increase in Internet orders, Mr. Ikeuchi immediately accessed the website and the first thing he saw were the words: “Do your best, Ikeuchi Towel!” Mr. Ikeuchi was surprised to discover that his company had become famous overnight thanks to the Internet postings of what looked like several young people.

A company that discloses information and tells no lies. A company that clearly states what it can do and cannot do. The image that Mr. Ikeuchi had worked so hard to build had reached the hearts of young people he had never met and had inspired them to support the company. “Nothing could make me happier” smiles broadly Mr. Ikeuchi.

Recently, the number of tie-ups with companies with a related line of business is on the rise. Manufacturers of bathroom accessories and toiletry goods known for their uncompromising commitment to environment-friendliness and social contribution, as well as soap makers who obstinately hold on to traditional manufacturing methods offer products developed jointly with Ikeuchi Towel in their stores. However, the tie-up contracts were not concluded through aggressive steps on the side of Mr. Ikeuchi. The connections were established quite naturally, as a result of Mr. Ikeuchi’s continuous efforts to clearly communicate his concepts and initiatives regarding the environment.

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Towels woven with the power of the wind(The Earth is protected by the wind)
In the beginning of 2002 Ikeuchi Towel became the first and only Japanese company that operates exclusively with wind-generated power. However, it has no windmills on the company premises. The Japan Natural Energy Company Limited (JNEC) has established a program called “Green Power Certification System” to connect wind power stations nationwide with its customers (mainly companies and organizations) that are willing to use wind-generated electric power (see the chart).

The customers request wind-generated power via JNEC. The subcontracted wind-power generation company reports the record of generated power to JNEC and a neutral third party (the Green Power Certification Council, Japan (GPCCJ)), certifies the record. Based on this certificate, JNEC issues to its customers a “Certification of Green Power” according to the amount generated.

This system has been adopted to convert part of the internally-consumed electricity into green power by some of the biggest and most prominent companies in Japan, such as Sony (4.5 million kWh annually), Asahi Beer (3.3 million kWh), Toyota Motor Corporation (2 million kWh), Fuji Xerox (1.7 million kWh), Eisai (1 million kWh) and many others. Ikeuchi Towel is the first small-to-medium enterprise in Japan that joined the ranks of these companies by adopting the “Green Power Certification System.” The contract for power generation is for 400,000 kWh annually, which is a rather small volume compared to the other companies. However, 400,000 kWh is the total amount of electric power consumed internally at Ikeuchi Towel in the course of one year. In other words, Ikeuchi Towel became the first Japanese company that covers 100% of its internal power needs with wind-generated power.

Program of Certification of Green Power (prices are examples)

The company has also completed “Wind Angel,” the product that brought public attention to Ikeuchi Towel’s efforts for wind-powered manufacturing. Today, it is sold at the famous department store Isetan – a long-cherished dream of Mr. Ikeuchi. The label features the catch line “The Earth is protected by the wind.”

“Naturally, it is very important that products reflect the policy of our company, but there are voices that say that such an approach sounds too much like preaching and is full of religious innuendo. From now on, I would like to remove as much as possible the sense of pushiness from our company image. The perfect approach will be one of unobtrusive casualness where customers would pick up our products thinking how wonderful they are, and would find out that in fact they are made of organic materials using green power.”

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Don’t abuse environment-protection measures as a means of receiving “indulgence” – the safety-first principle
Establishment of presence in New York, intra-industrial sharing of information, acquiring of certifications ahead of rivals in the field, switch-over to green power – the list seems endless. What is the source of this amazing energy?

“I have a weakness for new things,” says Mr. Ikeuchi. “I was the first entrepreneur in Ehime Prefecture to conclude a contract for the hybrid vehicle Prius. I definitely hope that Toyota will launch a Prius manufactured using only wind-generated power. Shikoku is dependent on nuclear power generation for 60% of its power consumption, which is extremely high for Japan.I would like to say No! to nuclear power generation.”

These somewhat joking statements occasionally reveal Mr. Ikeuchi’s true self as an ecologist. Some dozen years ago, he came across the essays of the famous canoeist Tomosuke Noda, and fell in love with downstream canoeing. His favorite spot was the midstream of the Shimanto River, which is known as Japan’s last clear stream, near Nishitosa Village where no trace of human presence spoils the beautiful scenery. Mr. Ikeuchi used to visit the Dragonfly Park in the downstream area, where the river flows leisurely, and to finish his journeys at the shore of the ocean where he enjoyed whale watching.

“This journey is truly what we call the ‘ecology tour'. Once you experience canoeing, you’ll definitely get to hate golf.”

Embraced by Mother Nature, Mr. Ikeuchi experiences complete mental and physical relaxation. It is this ability to enjoy the relaxing power of nature to the fullest that ensures that Mr. Ikeuchi’s environmental policy will not become a perfunctory duty.

Apart from his corporate activities, Mr. Ikeuchi serves as a manager of the branch of the non-profit organization (NPO) “Future 500 Shikoku” (a business network for green economy). In his work for Future 500 Shikoku, Mr. Ikeuchi puts aside his corporate agenda and engages in planning of lectures on the environment for the public, with the objective of reaching out to as many people as possible. Also, he prefers to stay back and cede the leadership to women, because experience has taught him that women are more conscious of environmental issues than men.

“Recently, I told my wife how good the works of Rachel Carson (founder of contemporary environmental movement, advocate of nature and environmental ethics) were, and she immediately shot back at me: ‘And you discovered this now? Did you forget how, around the time we got married, I told you her book was very good and you just laughed at me?’ I am sure that if men working at companies come off their highs a bit and learn from their wives, the Earth will become a more beautiful place.”

Nowadays, many company presidents are engaged in environmental activities. However, their involvement is pointless if they use it as an “indulgence,” because no matter how hard one participates in environmental activities as an individual, this does not change the fact that his/her company imposes a heavy burden on the environment. Mr. Ikeuchi maintains an uncompromising attitude with regard not only to the involvement of other business people, but to his own involvement as well.

Looking back, ever since Ikeuchi Towel became seriously involved in environmental activities, the company has been favored with many new encounters and got the chance to explore many new directions for development.

“Today, the activities of Ikeuchi Towel are sprouting buds in various areas. I intend to carefully nurture these buds.”

We must hope that these efforts will help improve the natural environment of Shikoku while protecting the towel industry of Imabari, and will make a difference for Japan, the world, and our planet Earth. While having his feet firmly planted in Imabari, Mr. Ikeuchi has the Earth reflected in his eyes.

*President Nolgard of the Nobo-tex Co. who had a large influence on environmental measures of Ikeuchi Towel died suddenly on 25th August 2002, when the book was being written .Ikeuchi Towel decided firmly to accept his thoughts and bring success in Japan.

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