BEAMS HEART builds its first collaboration around Nontan's 50th anniversary

BEAMS Co., Ltd. (株式会社ビームス) said its lifestyle label BEAMS HEART (ビームス ハート) will release its first-ever collaboration with Nontan (ノンタン), the picture-book character created by Sachiko Kiyono (きよのさちこ) and published by Kaiseisha (偕成社), on November 27. The 13-item line goes on sale nationwide at BEAMS HEART stores and the BEAMS official online shop, timed to the character's 50th anniversary, according to the company's November 10 announcement.

The line splits into nine women's pieces sold under BEAMS HEART and four children's pieces sold under the kids' label BEAMS mini (ビームス ミニ). The women's items range from a ¥2,750 plush charm to a ¥9,900 matching loungewear set, and include a cardigan, cap, socks, blanket, pouch and plush toy; the BEAMS mini items -- a matching set, parka, waist warmer and leg warmer -- run ¥2,750 to ¥6,050. The theme, the company said, is a "comfortable room" mood drawn from scenes in the books of Nontan and his friends sleeping, rendered in boa fabric, patches and embroidery.

Buyers of any item in the collaboration receive a free rubber keychain in one of three designs while supplies last, with no minimum spend required, the company said.

Nontan's first book appeared in 1976 -- the same year BEAMS opened its original Harajuku store, a half-century mark the retailer marked with its own 50th-anniversary programme earlier this year. Pairing a domestic picture-book character, rather than an imported franchise, with a company celebrating the same milestone keeps the whole capsule's story -- the character, the retailer and the audience it targets -- inside Japan's own retail and publishing history. BEAMS said the Nontan anniversary also comes with an exhibition tour, commemorative merchandise and a new anime adaptation, which gives this capsule a longer runway of tie-ins to watch for over the coming year, rather than a single release.