IRIS CO., LTD

Company Description

"Iris's buttons are used by apparel makers throughout the world."

Involved in everything from manufacturing to sales, Iris Co., Ltd. is one of the world's few integrated button makers, and maintains top market share domestically in Japan.
The company currently deals in nearly 8,000 products, including buttons and accessories, earning its reputation in the industry as a "button department store."
Iris Co., Ltd. was founded on Nov. 26, 1946.
The company's sales headquarters is located in Tokyo's Kanda/Asakusa area, and its corporate headquarters is situated in the city of Ota in Gunma Prefecture, at the Yajima factory.
The company manufacturers and sells primarily materials used in apparel, such as buttons and accessories, in addition to interior decorations (photo frames, etc.), hobby goods, composite products, elastomer products, and precision-cut plastic products.
The company maintains five domestic sales offices, which are located in Tokyo (Asakusabashi, Asakusa), Osaka, Okayama, and Nagoya. The company's five domestic factories are the Yajima factory in Gunma, the Ojima factory, the Nitta factory, the Katashina factory, and the Kansai factory (Nara).
In addition, the company maintains nine overseas sales offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Taiwan (Taipei, Kaohsiung), Seoul, New York, and Bangladesh.
The company has three overseas factories, which are located in China's Suzhou and Dalian, and in the Philippines.
Sales are JPY8,871,000,000 (for the year ending December 2012). The company has 550 employees.
The company handles buttons made from polyester, casein, urea, nylon/ABS resin, and brass/die-cast metal buttons, as IRIS CO., LTDll as those made from natural materials like shell, water buffalo, nuts, leather, and wood.

* Environmental activities include running part of the Ecolog Recycling Network.
Since 1994, the company has participated in Ecolog Recycling Japan, a circulation network for recycling clothing.

*Opened Button Museum as cultural activity
The company opened the Button Museum in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in 1988. Although the Tokyo museum is currently closed, the company has opened a temporary museum in Osaka's Tennoji district.