“Betty Smith,” Japan’s first specialist brand of women’s jeans.
Betty Smith is a company that not only makes textile products, but also focuses on training skilled workers and promoting the appeal of domestically made jeans, continually creating new value in jeans.
What kind of young employees work on the front lines producing the domestically made jeans Japan is proud of?
We interviewed Kawamura Hanon, a young employee at Betty Smith.
The information presented is current as of the article’s publication in August 2026. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Betty Smith
Betty Smith is a long-established jeans manufacturer headquartered in Kojima, the birthplace of domestically made jeans.
Oshima Clothing Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Betty Smith, was founded in 1927 and manufactured school uniforms and workwear. After World War II, it drew on its sewing expertise to begin making jeans, and the company was established in 1962. In 1970, “Betty Smith,” Japan’s first specialist brand of women’s jeans, was launched.
Today, the company offers a range of distinctive brands, including DENIM WORKS for adults and Eco Betty, which makes use of leftover denim fabric.
Betty Smith’s corporate mission is “creating a jeans culture in Japan.”
Through its operation of the Jeans Museum, jeans-making experiences, custom jeans, and more, the company broadly promotes the appeal of jeans from the perspectives of “seeing and learning” and “planning and creating.”
Another distinctive feature is that each craftsperson aims to pass the certification exam known as “Textile Meister”, and the company is committed to making high-quality jeans.
Betty Smith is a company that continues to create new value in domestically made jeans.
Kawamura at Betty Smith
Our interviewee was Kawamura Hanon, who leads the sewing team at Betty Smith’s factory. Born in 2003, she is from Okayama City.
Kawamura says she had wanted to work in clothing since high school. Although she could have pursued a career in customer service and sales, she chose to pursue garment-making and joined the company in April 2022.
Kawamura’s job
Kawamura currently works on the factory sewing floor as a team leader and instructor.
Her work includes sewing cut fabric pieces together, keeping track of the factory’s overall progress and giving instructions to each craftsperson, and teaching technical skills to new employees. She devotes herself to making products while coordinating with many people across the company.
Kawamura became the sewing team leader about a year and a half after joining the company. Though still young, she strives to tailor her instruction to each craftsperson and plays an important role in supporting Betty Smith’s high-quality products.
During our visit, we were able to watch Kawamura sewing.
Using a large industrial sewing machine, Kawamura sewed the fabric together neatly and in a straight line. She made it look so effortless that it seemed easy, but achieving such precision and speed must take a great deal of practice.
During busy periods, when the number of tourists increases, she sometimes serves customers at Betty’s Store on the premises or works as a staff member for the jeans-making experience.
Kawamura, who had also been interested in customer service work, told us, “It’s fun to be able to do different jobs across departments; it’s a nice change of pace.”
How she found Betty Smith
Kawamura had always loved clothes and studied home economics in high school. She earned top-level certifications in clothing construction, covering both Japanese and Western garments, and in food preparation, which involved making a full-course meal, spending her days immersed in making things.
She had planned to start working immediately after graduating from high school, but struggled to find a job opening in apparel sales and customer service, the field she had hoped to enter. Just as she began thinking, “Maybe I could work part-time,” her career guidance teacher advised her, “If you love clothes, why not make them?” This became a major turning point.
When searching for job openings, Kawamura remembered that her mother owned some Betty Smith accessories, and began looking into the company.
As she learned more about Betty Smith, including by visiting in person, she was drawn to the environment where cutting, sewing, planning, and even sales are all handled in-house. The fact that she could also be involved in the sales work she had admired became a major factor in her decision to join.
What Kawamura sees as appealing about Betty Smith as a workplace
What Kawamura finds appealing about Betty Smith is that “because it isn’t a large company, employees are close to one another and it’s easy to ask for advice.”
She says that many people at work are calm and kind, and they have built relationships that make it easy to ask for advice, even across departments. For example, she says that even colleagues with more than 10 years at the company listen attentively and cooperate with instructions from Kawamura, a young team leader, without showing any displeasure.
She also says that having everything from planning and manufacturing to sales take place on the same premises makes the workplace easier to work in. If anything comes up, staff can go straight to the people in charge of planning or the pattern makers to check, creating an environment where they can coordinate smoothly while preventing mistakes.
She also told us that the opportunity to take on a variety of roles is a major attraction. Kawamura originally wanted to work in customer service, so being able to work not only on sewing but also in customer service at the shop and hands-on workshops has given her a great sense of fulfillment.
Kawamura joined Betty Smith and is now in her fourth year in 2026. She told us about the rewards of serving as a team leader on the floor and what she finds appealing about working at Betty Smith.
Betty Smith Information
| Organization Name | Betty Smith |
|---|---|
| Industry | Jeans and casual wear planning, manufacturing, and sales |
| Representative | Oshima Yasuhiro |
| Year Established | 1962 |
| Address | 5-2-70 Kojima Shimonomachi, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | Please contact us using the inquiry form. https://betty.co.jp/contact2/ |
| Website | Betty Smith Website |
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