Q. Please tell us about your usual work..
AS-san & YI
In our joint research with universities, we usually evaluate the performance of developed samples and products sold on the market in terms of water absorption, fluff removal, durability, etc., and aim to make presentations at academic conferences every year. We hold joint research meetings once a month.
Performance evaluations of developed samples and products on the market are useful for improving samples and determining future development policies.
Towels have a three-dimensional structure, so unlike cloth, they have piles on the front and back, and a self-tissue that supports them. Furthermore, there are many factors such as pile length, yarn count, and number of twists of the yarn, so the fabric is actually complex, so the design and evaluation of towels has a lot of depth. One of these is the establishment of testing and evaluation methods, which we are working on through joint research with universities.
Q. What made you join Izawa Towel?
AS-san
Since I had studied textiles at university and loved textile products, I focused my job hunting on jobs that would allow me to make things and work with textiles. I learned about Izawa Towel while researching the company, and I was very attracted to the company's focus on research and development, which is rare in the towel industry, and their efforts to create better towels from a consumer's perspective.
YI
I learned about Izawa Towel while looking for a job as a new graduate. Before joining the company, I didn't have a detailed idea of what the work would be like, but I found that the company's culture of continually taking on challenges with ambition, growth potential, and the employees I spoke to in interviews seemed to be having fun talking about towels. This impressed me and I decided to join the company.
Now, I feel really glad that I joined the company.
Q. What is rewarding and interesting about working at Izawa Towel?
AS-san
When business partners come to our "laboratory", we sometimes explain the depth of our towels. When people become interested in towels and our technological development capabilities, which leads to business negotiations and sales, we feel that we have conveyed the appeal of towels to the end users, and we are very happy.
YI
I feel a sense of fulfillment when a friend happens to love our products, or when I pop into a store and find our products on display. Towels have a very profound meaning, as they can have completely different performance, texture, and appearance depending on the combination of the length of the pile, the number of twists of the pile yarn, and the yarn count of the pile. Towels have been around for a long time, but they don't continue to make exactly the same products. I find the joy of my work in the fact that I am always working on new things in order to deliver better towels to consumers.
Q. Message to those considering joining the company
YI
What do you imagine when you hear the word towel? Before I joined the company, all I could think of was towels with loops on the surface, fluffy, and highly absorbent, and I wasn't particular about purchasing towels that I used at home.
Since joining the company, I have come to understand the depth of towels and notice the minute differences, and every day I make new discoveries.
I think this is the perfect environment for people who can use trial and error to deliver better products to consumers.
AS-san
Izawa Towel is a company that continues to change with a sense of speed.
We are proud of the fact that new projects are progressing every day in our technology development group, and that we are able to constantly translate development results into the creation of better products.