The short answer lies with licensing. Licensing has been around in fashion for decades, with labels ranging from Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin, to Liz Claiborne and Massimo selling their names to either turn a quick buck or expand their brand empire. The North Face Purple Label comes from the former. Back in the 80s, The North Face wasn’t doing so hot; they were making money, but climbing and bouldering gear was still niche and relegated mostly to hobbyists. So, in a bid to drive short-term sales, The North Face America (now owned by the massive VF Corporation) sold the rights to its name to Goldwin, a large Japanese conglomerate that produced its own line of outdoorsy clothing. Subsequently, Goldwin also purchased the Japanese production rights for flagging Norwegian sportswear brand Helly Hansen. Fast forward to 2003—after years of producing The North Face sportswear and their eponymous label, Goldwin decided to introduce a new fashion-forward line under the The North Face banner. After recruiting Nanamica’s Eiichiro Homma to direct the line’s creative image, The North Face Purple Label formally began.

The label was introduced to capitalize on trends popular with Japanese youths, like modern, European-style cuts, while also indoctrinating new buyers into The North Face brand. Homma proved his worth as the label’s creative director, eventually introducing the new and improved Helly Hansen line as well. Bolstered by professionally shot lookbooks, the labels began showing up in Japanese fashion magazine editorials and was picked up by smaller Japanese select stores shortly thereafter. The North Face Japan also operates a host of their own stores around Japan (Goldwin also owns the license to sell North Face in South Korea), with sections for The North Face Purple Label and Helly Hansen available alongside the other Japanese The North Face lines. Not only does Goldwin operate The North Face independently of its American licensee, but until recently, Goldwin operated the Champion Japan, the higher-end, premium counterpart of the near-ubiquitous OG Champion brand.

Champion is commonly linked with cheap department and athletic store basics here in America, but in Japan it’s synonymous with quality, one of the storied American Heritage Brands celebrated in Japan for its legacy in American fashion. In Japan, the brand is known for slim-fitting, substantial sweaters and boxy longsleeves and tees. Instead of diluting the brand with lower quality basics, Champion Japan uses reverse-weave construction to ensure maximum softness and substantial weight, while producing all of their pieces to an exceptional level of quality. In 2016, Goldwin sold the license to Hanesbrands, the US-based company that purchased Champion back in 2006. It remains to be seen if Hanesbrands will corrupt the operations of the Japan-based Champion brand, but the line appears to be untouched by corporate meddling, the website even boasting staff styling with fans of the brand and store employees wearing Champion goods.

It’s common knowledge that The North Face Japan is vastly different than its Western counterpart, but fewer people are aware of the disparity between Converse America and Converse Japan. Like The North Face USA, Converse wasn’t doing very well prior to being purchased by Nike, and sold off their Japanese license. The most immediate difference in the two labels is the attention to detail and quality. Converse Japan, being a smaller company than Nike, takes special interest in working with specific factories, much like Champion Japan, to ensure that their standard of quality is being met with every batch of shoes. They even produce limited lines of Converse shoes made in Japan, not to mention the Converse Addict releases. First released in 2008 Converse Addict shoes are Converse Japan’s highest-end sneaker, featuring Vibram soles, removable insoles, high-quality cotton laces, metal eyelets, and other premium features.

Furthermore, although American and Japanese Converse are willing to experiment with their lines, Converse Japan goes further by retro’ing some of the old, bizarre silhouettes no longer made by Converse, including old basketball and hiking shoes. Converse Japan also collaborates with Facetasm designer Hiromichi Ochiai on another exclusive line, called Converse Tokyo One. If Facetasm had a diffusion line, this would be it; this clothing line is forward-looking but wearable, priced at only a fraction of Facetasm’s runway prices. Sometimes shortened to Converse One, the line features nods to both Facetasm and Converse, with big Converse logos printed onto oversized tees, wide raw-hemmed jeans recalling Converse’s popularity with skaters, and massive bomber jackets.

Being smaller than their American counterparts offers the Japanese versions of American brands the freedom to experiment without concerning themselves with appealing to a wider market. However, lines like Converse Addict and The North Face Purple Label can’t be sold overseas while The North Face USA and Nike hold the exclusive license in other countries. Word is that the American companies have been trying to buy back their Japanese licenses, but Goldwin and Converse Japan are holding firm—and why shouldn’t they? They hold a monopoly over the brands’ existences in Japan, much like the many other Western brands owned by Japanese companies, including Vans, Lee, and Wrangler.

One may trace the origin of these complex lineages to the wild Japanese buying spree in the 80’s, where Japan snatched up as many international brands, businesses, and companies as they could. There was a legitimate fear amongst corporate America that they’d soon have a new set of wealthy Japanese bosses moving in soon. Although that fear was mostly misplaced, the effects of Japan’s many purchases is still clear when you realize just how many labels they still own. Even the labels they don’t own, like Red Wing and Nike, cater to the Japanese market with exclusive products, eager to capitalize on the open-minded Japanese consumer. Westerners waiting for their local stores to pick up these lines are going to be waiting for a long time. Outside of the “Japan Unlimited” releases available at major The North Face Flagships in New York and San Francisco, Goldwin is free to operate The North Face label freely in Japan, but is unable to sell anything from the line outside of the country. As Goldwin’s ownership of The North Face brand is exclusive to Japan, it doesn’t afford them the rights to sell the line anywhere else. Unless The North Face USA and Goldwin reconcile their licenses, which seems highly implausible, fans of The North Face Purple Label or Converse Japan will have to resort to proxy services, Japanese stores that ship internationally, or secondhand sellers to get their hands on any Japan-exclusive goods.