Emerged from the combination of the organic material and the traditional Japanese dyeing technique, Liv:ra is a lingerie brand from Kyoto with an aim to deliver ethical products to customers. This brand has delivered a made-to-order plant dyed lingerie to customers across Japan.

In this article, we will introduce you to how Liv:ra founder, Yumi Komori, started her brand, why she chose Shopify and Ship&co to streamline the ecommerce operation.

Liv:ra: the Ethical Lingerie Brand

Before starting the brand, Yumi was working in the fashion industry. 2010 is when she first started her own business by selling the affordable clothes in big lot. Then, the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, the severe natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan, has completely changed her idea towards businesses.

She felt that, especially after the disaster, it was important to be more concerned how the products are made of and what material were used to produce the clothes she was selling. She started Liv:ra with a focus of ethical consumption—to purchase organic ingredients and produce products in the way that do no or less harm to the nature.

And that was the beginning of her journey with Liv:ra in 2013.

Bringing Back The Traditional Japanese Technique to Lingerie Brand

Starting Liv:ra brand, Yumi was thinking how she could create the products. She knew the fact that about 20% of water pollution in the world is caused by chemical dyes in clothes from fashion industry.

While she was looking for more sustainable way for the production, she ran into the traditional Japanese silk dyeing technique, called "Kusaki-zome (草木染め)".

Kusaki-zome (草木染め) is a technique that originated in Japan since 2000 years ago. It is a way to dye the silks with natural materials, producing the clothes that are more eco-friendly.

"I personally prefer the clothes with colorful shade like pink, red and yellow. At that time, there were not many options of clothes with colorful shade, made of organic materials. I saw that gap in the market. Then, I got a chance to learn about Kusaki-zome technique. I was impressed by how the Japanese artisan were able to dye a fabric into richer colors than what chemical dyes can produce. I reached out to the artisans to learn even deeper.", Yumi mention. She was impressed and inspired by this traditional Japanese technique.

"Kusaki-zome technique brings the feeling like the second layers of the skin. This natural dyes are more skin-friendly and retain its softness of silk. Liv:ra is a brand that would like to bring the quality silk to daily use. We aim our Liv:ra lingerie to become a fashion to relax customers' mind and body."

In Japan, there is a belief that "clothes are not just the items worn to cover the body, but they are to protect people against the bad. That's one of the ideas Yumi has applied through Liv:ra brand.

Slow Fashion: Made-To-Order Clothes

The main business model Liv:ra used is a made-to-order. All lingerie items sold in ecommerce website usually takes 1-2 months to produce. The organic materials are 100% biodegradable.

The plant dye technique brings the luxury image to Liv:ra lingerie. Yumi can control and reduce labor costs on the production by only focusing on made-to-order process. Production flow is also simplified. They receive orders from ecommerce shops monthly, send production requests to the factory and ship products once it's ready. That is the secret behind a fairly affordable price.

Liv:ra Ecommerce Operation: Shopify x Ship&co

At first, Yumi was using BASE ecommerce platform for Liv:ra online shop, but she changed to Shopify in 2020.

When starting the first online shop, she used BASE to receive orders and print shipping labels using Sagawa E-Hiden system. The process was not smooth since the Sagawa E-Hiden system wasn't easy-to-use.

After moving to Shopify, she was searching for Shopify shipping app that can be used in Japan and that was how she learnt about Ship&co.

Liv:ra lingeries are shipped right from the factory, after it passes through the quality control and packing process. They use Ship&co application to print shipping labels for domestic shipping in Japan.

Ship&co: Shopify Shipping App to Simplify Shipping Process

"Ship&co is really easy-to-use. It comes with a simple user interface, which I can understand in the first glance. Also, the app has smooth integration with Shopify. Thanks to Ship&co. We can ship made-to-order products very seamlessly.", Yumi told Ship&co team.

"Ship&co syncs Shopify memo and it helps a lot to manage orders and shipping. Our customers have different requests and our aim is to fulfill their needs in the best possible way, delivering the right products in the fastest and smoothest way. We use Shopify memo a lot in order to assign the specific packing requirements and add any important comments needed to ship the packages."

Effortless shipping management for global e-commerce

Ship&co is an easy-to-integrate shipping management platform that helps sync orders, track shipments, and generate labels and invoices in a matter of minutes. From a single dashboard, you can manage a shipping of multiple stores via multiple shipping carriers and fulfill the order faster. Start automating shipping flow today with the easiest integration ever from Ship&co.

Any doubts? Visit shipandco.com or reach out to us at hello@shipandco.com and we'll give you the answer!