Japanese new-generation lifestyle beauty brand AHRES has opened its first overseas store in Hanshin Intercontinental Shopping Mall in Taichung.
"The position of Japanese brands in the international market seems to have been gradually challenged in recent years." Aida Kazuhiko, founder and CEO of AHRES, a new-generation Japanese lifestyle beauty brand, observed that in the past, Japanese brands relied on their excellent quality to establish a distinctive image in the global market. However, from cars, clothing to skin care products, although various brands now still have strength, the impression they give people is becoming more and more similar, and they are even facing the risk of being replaced.
This also made him think, when high quality is no longer the unique advantage of Japanese brands, what else can they rely on to attract consumers? He found that the Japanese beauty market has long had a blind spot, which is that it overemphasizes "functionality" but ignores consumers' feelings when using the products. Therefore, he decided to break away from the traditional thinking of developing skin care products. In addition to pursuing product efficacy, he also wanted consumers to gain emotional value from them.
This seemingly non-traditional business philosophy not only gave birth to AHRES, but also allowed the brand to enter Japan's first-tier department stores in just a few years starting from Omotesando in Tokyo. Ci FLAVORS, the parent group behind AHRES, first received investment from L Catterton Asia, a private equity fund that cooperated with French boutique giant LVMH. This year, it signed an equity acquisition agreement with global private equity giant KKR. Now, AHRES has opened its first overseas specialty store in Taichung Hanshin Intercontinental Shopping Plaza, officially entering the Japanese market.
Kazuhiko Aida, founder of AHRES, bluntly said that the biggest blind spot in the Japanese beauty market is that it places too much emphasis on product functions. "Everyone is talking about product functions, and few brands will say that their functions are not good." But in his view, when there are countless products on the market, and almost every brand emphasizes quality and efficacy, if a new brand just copies the existing successful formula, it has no meaning at all.
He believes that high quality is still an indispensable foundation for Japanese beauty brands, but functionality alone is no longer enough to establish differentiation. Especially when consumers are faced with a large number of similar products, in addition to whether the product itself is easy to use, whether the use process can bring pleasure and whether it can establish an emotional connection through sensory experience has also become a direction worthy of consideration by the brand.
Therefore, Kazuhiko Aida launched AHRES in December 2022 and chose to open its first flagship store in Omotesando, Harajuku, Tokyo. The brand did not focus on a single skin care field from the beginning, but spanned five major categories: facial care, hair products, hand care, body care and fragrance, launching 51 products in one go.
AHRES has also integrated "Function with Entertainment" into the core of the brand, trying to make skin care no longer just a pursuit of efficacy, but an experience that combines art, senses and daily life.
For example, the brand develops skin care products based on the concept of "soil beauty" and Japanese fermented ingredients, retaining the Japanese brand's emphasis on science and functionality. On the other hand, it also creates exclusive music for perfumes, allowing consumers to not only experience the aroma through the sense of smell, but also combine it with the auditory experience to create memories that are different from traditional perfumes.
Kazuhiko Aida said that in the three or four years since the brand was launched, the team has gradually realized from consumers’ responses that entertainment can indeed bring a different perspective to skin care products, and it has also allowed AHRES to find its own positioning in the fiercely competitive market.
Interestingly, when many consumers first encounter AHRES, they are often attracted by the minimalist packaging, Japanese-style knot design, and SAYU, which focuses on "plain water fragrance". They may even think that this is a niche fragrance brand founded by an independent perfumer.
But behind AHRES, there are actually group resources that are different from ordinary independent brands. AHRES is incubated by Ci FLAVORS, a Japanese cosmetics group, which also owns popular Japanese cosmetics brands such as &honey, 8 THE THALASSO, and unlabel LAB. Different from traditional large-scale beauty groups, Ci FLAVORS adopts a "Brand Platform" model, which means using the group's resources to continue to incubate new brands with different positionings and help expand scale and sales channels.
In other words, what consumers may see is a fragrance brand with a distinctive style and independent personality, but behind the brand, there is a group system that supports product development, brand growth and channel expansion. Such a development model also attracts the attention of international private equity capital.
Ci FLAVORS announced as early as the end of 2021 that it had received investment from L Catterton Asia. The fund has a strategic partnership with LVMH Group and Groupe Arnault, a subsidiary of the Arnault family. In August 2026, Ci FLAVORS signed an equity acquisition agreement with KKR, a global private equity investment company. The two parties plan to further accelerate brand growth and overseas layout.
As AHRES gradually established its foothold in the Japanese market, the brand turned its attention overseas, and the first stop was Taiwan. AHRES' first overseas specialty store officially opened in Taichung Hanshin Intercontinental Shopping Mall in November. In addition to bringing the brand's original fragrance and skin care products to Taiwan, it also introduced new water-based cleansing oil (220ml/NT$1,480), and the ROYAL J perfume series (50ml/NT$5,600) sold in Taiwan for the first time.
Talking about why he chose Taiwan, Kazuhiko Aida said that in addition to the cultural similarities between Japan and Taiwan, what is more important is the trust relationship between partners and consumers. He revealed that in the past, Taiwanese consumers gave the brand positive feedback after contacting AHRES. These voices from overseas consumers also brought encouragement to the team.
Aida Kazuhiko believes that for a brand to successfully enter a new market, it cannot rely solely on the product itself. It is equally important whether the partners truly understand the brand concept and whether both parties have common expectations for future development. Therefore, he hopes that through local partners who are familiar with the brand, Taiwanese consumers will not just walk into the store to take photos and check in, but will also be able to further understand the life aesthetics AHRES wants to convey through actual contact and use of the products.
