Champion Day

What Is Champion Day?

Every May 19th is also "Champion Day" (チャンピオンの日, Chanpion no Hi) in Japan. The date was designated by HanesBrands Japan, which markets the Champion sportswear brand in Japan, to celebrate the brand's history. Champion — founded in 1919 in the United States — is one of the world's most recognized athletic apparel brands, and May 19th was chosen as its 100th anniversary year marker in 2019. Champion Day celebrates both the brand's centennial heritage and the culture of sport and active lifestyle it represents in Japan.

Champion's History

Champion was founded in 1919 in Rochester, New York by the Feinbloom brothers, initially manufacturing athletic wear for American universities. The brand pioneered several important innovations in athletic apparel, including the first reverse weave sweatshirt (which resists shrinking by running the fabric horizontally rather than vertically) and early development of athletic T-shirts and hoodies. Champion's "C" logo became one of the most recognized marks in sportswear, and the brand clothed numerous American sports teams and university athletics programs throughout the 20th century.

Champion in Japanese Fashion

Champion became particularly popular in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, when American collegiate and athletic aesthetics were highly fashionable among Japanese youth. The brand's clean, unpretentious design and its association with American university sports culture made it a staple of Japanese casual fashion. Champion has experienced a significant global revival in the 2010s as "streetwear" aesthetics brought athletic apparel into mainstream fashion contexts, and the brand's Japanese market has grown substantially as part of this trend.

Sportswear and Japanese Fashion Culture

Japan has a distinctive relationship with Western sportswear brands — absorbing, adapting, and sometimes reversing the cultural flow back to the originating countries. Several Western brands (including New Balance, Carhartt, and others) have found that their popularity in Japan — maintained through periods of relative obscurity elsewhere — eventually influenced their global revival. Japan's fashion culture treats sportswear with a seriousness and attention to heritage that transforms functional clothing into objects of study and appreciation.

Fun Facts

• Made in USA premium: Original "Made in USA" Champion products command significant premiums in Japan's vintage and resale markets, reflecting Japanese consumers' appreciation for authentic heritage and quality of manufacture.
• University logos: Champion's long association with American university athletics programs means that garments bearing logos of Harvard, Michigan, and other major universities have become fashion items in Japan, worn for their aesthetic rather than any alumni connection.