News

The fourth annual PARCASSIO Beautiful Legs Awards, hosted by the PARCASSIO Club and sponsored by Kuraray, was held on September 5 at the Westin Hotel in Meguro-ku, Tokyo. This year's awardees were selected from a number of age groups and included:

20s Category Aki Hoshino
30s Category Aya Sugimoto
40s Category Naomi Akimoto
Sports Category Shinobu Asagoe

With the exception of Ms. Asagoe, who was participating in the U.S. Open tennis tournament, the ceremony was attended by each of the awardees. Each award recipient was presented with a pair of PARCASSIO pumps that they had themselves designed. They also received the wooden mold used to make their respective pumps as a trophy. Comments we received from each of the awardees about their shoes included:

"These are the most comfortable pair of pumps I have ever worn."T(Ms. Hoshino)
"They're even comfortable enough for dancing."T (Ms. Sugimoto)
"[Even though they have a heel,] I could run in them, they're so comfortable."T (Ms. Akimoto)

Aki Hoshino

Aya Sugimoto

Naomi Akimoto

Shinobu Asagoe

PARCASSIO and the PARCASSIO Club

PARCASSIO (http://www.kuraray.co.jp/parcassio/) is a Kuraray-developed, premium man-made leather material. With excellent air permeability and water resistant characteristics, it is also 30% lighter than natural leather, while maintaining the luxurious feel of natural leather. Based on advancements in Kuraray's tanning process technologies, we were able to create subtle silhouettes previously difficult to accomplish using natural leather. With an overall shape that isn't easily lost with wear, the framework for shoemaking that enhances the beauty of legs has also been expanded. Furthermore, with its easy-to-care-for quality, it is a truly revolutionary material.

The PARCASSIO Club is composed of six of Japan's leading premium shoe manufacturers (Inaba, Wood House, Ace Corporation, Kawano, Bass Corporation and Calzeria Hosono) that use the special characteristics of Kuraray's PARCASSIO premium man-made leather to make shoes for the new era. With participation by other domestic premium shoemakers planned, Kuraray aims to gain the participation of quality shoe manufacturers from around the world to establish the PARCASSIO Club as a global organization.