LIFE SIDE

Growing up in a glove factory

Kazuhiko Honda's family business made work gloves. Every day after primary school, he spent about two hours helping at his father's factory. Work gloves were essential for all kinds of jobs, but they added little value, and even as a child he felt it was a trade in decline. Still, he believed that adding function would create value and make something people were glad to use. With that belief, he founded WORLD GLOVE in June 2007.

"Gloves we can wear every day"

The company began as the sole Japanese distributor of work gloves made by a British manufacturer, containing ingredients for the skin. Customers who used them asked for gloves they could wear in everyday life. While researching online, Mr Honda found underwear knitted from fabric containing collagen. He contacted the company and explained that knitted gloves need yarn rather than fabric, and they agreed to make a trial collagen yarn.

He knitted gloves from that yarn and asked around twenty women he had never met to try them. The response went far beyond his expectations. After refining the design and function, the gloves became the Moist Coat. Collagen-treated yarn sits on the inside, while coloured yarn is knitted in a raised pattern on the outside, making the gloves both fun to look at and less slippery. He also designed the cuff so it is less likely to leave marks on the wrist, and offered a range of colours that is enjoyable to choose from. When the gloves won a Fukuoka Design Award, he was overjoyed to know his work had been on the right track.

By the side of everyday life

From gloves, the range grew to five-toe socks, always built around the yarn that touches the skin. The brand name LIFE SIDE carries the meaning "things that sit by the side of everyday life". Its tagline, "A little better than bare skin", expresses the hope that people can feel comfortable every day simply by wearing them, without having to think about it.

Made with Japan's knitting factories

LIFE SIDE products are knitted at factories in Japan. Mr Honda says Japan's knitting factories all have high levels of skill and quality. Yet ageing equipment and the retirement of skilled craftspeople are causing knitting, dyeing and yarn-twisting factories to shrink or close.

"Once something is lost, bringing it back is extremely hard. A stable environment for production is essential to Japanese manufacturing."

By combining WORLD GLOVE's finishing techniques with the factories' skill, the brand makes products that are truly its own.

From Kurume, to Japan and beyond

Until now, LIFE SIDE has mainly sold through lifestyle and gift shops, but the company is now developing products for the medical and care sectors. In 2026, sales began in the market for older people in China. Kurume University has set up a sleep lab to measure sleep data, and the company will receive support there to collect data on collagen-treated underwear, with prototypes in preparation.

Alongside his work, Mr Honda takes part in clean-up activities on the Chikugo River that runs through his hometown, and he is a member of Chiggotal, a group of makers from the Chikugo region. He says he wants to prove that a small regional company can do business overseas. From a small company in Kurume, he is working to share the comfort of the yarn that touches your skin, both in Japan and around the world.