Limited and unique merch: Pokémon collabs with boutique textile designer and an artisan doll-maker for highly limited merchandise exclusive to Japan
Pokémon has been on a roll with interesting collaborations this year, lending their name to everything from skateboards to pop music, and even recently announcing a mysterious partnership with the Van Gogh Museum. This week, Japanese press releases have promoted two more unusual projects for highly limited merchandise available exclusively in Japan.
High-end textile brand Feiler has announced their new line of Pokémon-themed products, scheduled for release on October 20th. Founded in Germany and specializing in chenille fabrics, the Japanese branch of Feiler revealed the new Pokémon items as part of their specialized gift collection LOVERARY (a combination of “love” and “library”). The collection will mostly focus on Pikachu, who features on two handkerchief designs and a large variety of pouches and bags, and also includes a single Eevee-themed handkerchief. These products will not be available via the Pokémon Center, but instead will be available on Feiler Japan’s website, and at their flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district, the Feiler Tenjin Underground Mall Store, the Takashimaya Osaka Store Feiler Shop, and at 14 Lovely Feiler stores across Japan. In-store releases of this new Pokémon collection seem to be extremely limited, with pre-sales to be conducted in advance via a lottery on the LINE messaging app between September 21st at 10:00am (JST) and September 27th at 9:59am (JST). After this pre-sale, these products will only be restocked should someone fail to pick up their pre-order before the end of their allocated exchange period, with all such product being sold via Feiler's online store. Sales on the online store will not be linked to a lottery.
A live stream will be held on the official Feiler Japan Instagram account @feiler_ jp on September 20th, between 8:00pm and 8:30pm (JST), to give fans the opportunity to preview the products in more detail before applying for the lottery.
Another new Pokémon product receiving a limited run is a special collaboration with Fukushima Prefecture, the site of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which impacted the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This collaboration matches Chansey together with traditional miharu hariko papier-mache dolls in a unique product created by Takashiba Deco Yashiki, a historic artisan shop in Fukushima's Koriyama City, who have generations of experience in making dolls in this style. Papier-mache dolls of this kind are considered lucky charms, making Chansey (whose Japanese name translates to Lucky) the perfect Pokémon for the medium. The miniature Chansey, which went on sale at the beginning of this month, is available for ¥4,400 (~$29.77 USD) only in-store at Takashiba Deco Yashiki. Stock of these products is limited, and interested customers are encouraged to contact the store ahead of time by phone or email to ensure availability.
