My name is Thomas Busch, a German educated banker and economist turned necktie designer headquartered in Japan, Kyoto.

History

My father, Manfred Busch was educated as a textile salesman at United Silk Mills in Krefeld, Germany, the velvet and silk city in the early 60’s. He left USM shortly after graduating from the apprenticeship and started working for the weaving factory, Seidenweberei Ludwig Guesken, located in Krefeld as well.

He stayed there for 35 years working himself up to become the General Manager. In 1992 he launched b & l textile trading GmbH with a staff of just two in Krefeld, a tradtional center of the silk woven industry foreseeing that the time for weaving necktie material in Germany was facing its inevitable end.

In a pioneering move b & l became one of the first companies from the industry to manufacture in Korea, China and Vietnam.

b & l also entered a partnership with a Japanese company in Kiryu.

This brought on board expert jacquard designers and technicians with a tradition of more than 100 years in Japan’s rich textile arts.

In 1997 I joined the company and outsourced the back office to Thailand, Bangkok, and focused the entire production of fabric and neckties to China, leaving from Korea and Vietnam.

This enabled b & l to concentrate on sales and product development at their headquarters in Germany, reducing their cost overhead ane becoming a price and quality leader within the market of mass and mid range production.

The ever decreasing volume and demand and finally the COVID crisis forced the liquidization of b&l textile trading GmbH in August 2020.

I have managed to restructure the remaining profitable operations and added services as well as a new line for the medium to upper end market segments under a new enterprise now called Thomas Busch Japan in October 2020.

Though the market conditions for a single player remain challenging, I have full confidence that the quality of my products and services, as well the professionalism applied to my operations guarantee the long term success.

There is nothing else I would rather do than working in the beautiful and rewarding world of menswear accessories.

No matter how challenging the times may be, at the end of the day we will always have a beautiful product at our hands, helping gentlemen across the world to dress in style.

Thomas Busch