Posts Tagged ‘Men’s Kimono’

The Joy of the Kimono and Yukata

Sunday, January 9th, 2022

Have you ever worn a kimono or yukata? If not, then you are missing out on one of life’s special experiences. Wearing these traditional Japanese garments is an enjoyable and unique experience that everyone should have the chance to enjoy. There’s nothing quite like the feel of a kimono or yukata against your skin, and wearing one will make you feel like a Japanese Princess or Samurai Warrior!

The best part is that you don’t have to go to Japan to live this dream. In fact, you don’t even have to find a store in Japan to buy one. In 1994, Chopa – Your Kimono Source became one of the web’s first online stores to make these beautiful robes available to everyone and easy to obtain.  Chopa saw the need for a one stop shopping experience and took the guesswork out of buying a kimono online.

Our online kimono shop is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Browse our large selection of authentic Japanese kimono, Yukata and short length kimono called the Happi Coat. Whether you are seeking a robe for men, women or kids, we have many styles and sizes to choose from. You can find yukatas and kimonos in a variety of colors and patterns. Chopa is based in the USA and ships from the Panhandle of Florida. Orders are processed quickly and most orders ship within one business day with many shipping the same day.

Yukata and kimono can be worn as loungewear, coverups at the beach, pool or spa and for parties and special ceremonies.  The yukata is often worn to outdoor festivals, especially in the summer. They’re comfortable and stylish, making them perfect for many occasions. Yukata and kimonos are perfect for lazy days around the house or while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee on the patio.

While Kimono are normally produced with a heavier fabric, a yukata is made of lighter weight cotton to keep you cool and comfortable. We offer kimono and yukata in both 100% cotton and a few styles in silk. Both are perfect to wear year-round for style and comfort.  Cotton robes are easy to care for and soft on the skin. Most styles we offer are machine-washable and tumble dried on low. For best results, we advise using cold water wash cycles and a short dry cycle or drip dry. This extends the lifespan of your robe.

With the ease of shopping online from Chopa, you don’t have to wait many weeks or months for a delivery from the far east. You won’t be surprised by a customs and duties bill and returns are simple. As mentioned before, we take the guesswork out of buying a kimono or yukata.

As a large buyer of Japanese kimono and yukata, Chopa is able to secure very favorable pricing which allows them to sell these fine robes at competitive and economical prices. Chopa also uses financial arbitrage and market strategies to hedge against rising or falling values of the Japanese Yen. This helps to assure reasonable pricing no matter what is taking place in the volatile currency markets. Our kimono is often less than half of what trendy retail stores offer them for. Since they are reasonably priced, many customers opt to purchase several to match their different moods and outfits.

Kimonos and yukatas make great gifts for friends and family members. We have many corporate customers who purchase dozens as corporate gifts and rewards for employees or to thank a customer when presented as a gift.  These robes make wonderful gift ideas throughout the year. Whether Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Graduation, birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas and Hanukkah holidays, Kimono and Yukata make gifts that people will enjoy and appreciate. Shop online now at www.chopa.com.

kimono-robes

                            Japanese Kimono

Shopping for a Kimono?

Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

As an online retailer of Kimono and Yukata robes since 1994, we understand the challenges of online shopping.  While we strive to have a easy to use, easy to find, and easy to shop website, we know nothing in life is perfect and this is why we make changes whenever possible to provide our customers with a better shopping experience.

Our top priority has always been customer safety and Chopa has never taken this lightly. We spend a large sum of money each year on security software, encryption, offsite services and more to keep customer information safe and secure at all times. We never rent, sell or loan customer information either. If you receive an email from us, it is a courtesy email based on a purchase you made on our website. In these periodic emails, we may alert you to a sale, special discount, or new product introduction. We always include an “unsubscribe” button in these emails and if you click the button, rest assured you are immediately removed from the database and you won’t hear from us again.

One service we introduced a few years ago was our Email Notification Shopping Service. Chopa offers over 100 different patterns and styles of Kimono, Yukata robes and short length Happi Coats, and while we try to maintain a full inventory at all times, it isn’t always possible. For instance we may have 20 Dragon Kimonos in stock at the moment and based on sales, additional inventory may currently be in production. Then along comes an order for 16 of these kimonos, leaving us with 4. If we normally sell 5 a week, you can see out easy it is to run out unexpectedly. Large orders are fairly common as business customers purchase yukata or kimonos as gifts for their sales team or their customers and for employee recognition.

Chopa has also been a Kimono source for theatrical productions, movie studios, model photoshoots, costume companies, restaurants, television shows and weddings. Many brides and grooms have been outfitted in our yukata or kimono, and many bridesmaids and groomsmen have also found our attire to be a special part of that memorable event. We see a large increase in summertime orders for weddings. Early summer also brings a surge in kimono sales for graduation gifts. Besides traditional holidays, birthdays and anniversaries that are common throughout the year, Halloween brings in a quick flurry as customers choose a kimono or yukata for their party costumes. Kimonos simply make great gifts for so many occasions.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Days round out a common theme for choosing kimono robes for gifts. Short-length Happi Coats are very popular for Valentine’s Day as well as the warm summer season as people want a shorter length robe for lounging at home or at the pool or beach. Seeing someone in one of our Happi Coats at the beach always brings a smile to our face.

We have provided some reasons why we may be out of stock in a particular size or style at any one time. If this happens to you, simply drop us an email or text and ask when a certain size or style will be back in stock. We can instantly check our inventory database and let you know an approximate time frame when new stock will be available. We can place you on our email notification list. When the item arrives, we send out one email letting you know that the kimono you want is available. There is no cost for this service and no obligation to follow through with a purchase. This email alert is a courtesy notice only. We do not add you to our email database and only send you one notice. There is no sales pitch, no hassle and absolutely no sales pressure. Consider it a quick note from a friend saying “Hey there, the Pink Cherry Blossom yukata in size medium is now in stock and available.”  That’s it, plain and simple.

So the next time you are surfing our online Kimono Store at www.chopa.com and don’t see a size available in a pattern you like, or don’t see a specific kimono today that you saw a week earlier, go to the top of the web page you are on and hit the “Contact Us” button on the tool bar menu. Send us a text or complete the contact form and submit. We will check our database, reply with a time frame and ask if you want to be added to our free alert system. This takes the guesswork out and allows you time to enjoy life rather than checking back every few days. As always, we invite feedback, suggestions, compliments and even complaints. Thanks for reading and happy kimono shopping.

Customer shopping for kimonos online from www.chopa.com

        Kimono Shopping Made Easy. 

Photo courtesy of Damir Spanic

Is Scrooge Visiting for Christmas?

Friday, July 2nd, 2021

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which brought worldwide closures, shut-downs, lock-downs and layers of additional government regulations, many retail operators are bracing themselves for what could become big shortages of merchandise for the Christmas Holiday shopping season.

Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers reported to Reuters News that they were attempting to place holiday orders for goods as early as possible this year. Besides backlogs in the manufacturing sector, shippers are facing major hurdles trying to keep up with soaring demand for container space on ships transporting goods over the oceans.

Across the globe, shipping ports are backed up, shipping containers are scarce and ships are experiencing delays entering ports and unloading goods. The Port of Los Angeles is experiencing record high volumes of container processing. Adding to these delays, China recently shut down or minimized operations at three major shipping ports due to a rise in Covid cases. In the U.S., once containers are unloaded there is a fight for the limited number of chassis available. Chassis are used to mobilize the large steel boxes for truckers to haul to their destination. Beyond these problems, truckers are in shorter supply as more veterans quit or retire and the younger generation has less interest entering the trucking business as a career, thus diminishing the number of truckers overall.

All of these situations are putting intense pressure on the price of goods. The rate to ship a 40′ container from Shanghai to Los Angeles was recently quoted at $9500.00.  One year ago, the same rate would have been under $3000.00. The cost of container rentals has seen large increases as have chassis rentals, trucking and shipping costs. Some US importers report their containers getting bumped from ships because other parties offer a higher bid for the ship space days or even hours before the ship sails. Additional surcharges imposed by shipping operators are also adding fuel to the demand fire.

Whether it’s toys, computers, electronics or clothing, many retailers and suppliers are warning customers to shop early this year. Others are quick to point out that they don’t expect much in discounting either. When there is a shortage of goods along with high demand, there isn’t a compelling reason to do offer sales. This year, retailers are facing lower margins to begin with. Many are absorbing as much of these cost increases as possible to remain consistent and competitive, but at some point they must wave the white flag and surrender. If they don’t make a profit, they don’t have a business.

One retail operator who ships packages regularly through her online business expressed disappointment with parcel carriers like UPS and FedEx. She stated that these carriers raise their prices each and every year, but also add additional surcharges in some situations during the holiday season. She explained how FedEx adds a $26.00 surcharge on top of existing rates for packages over 50 lbs. She sells over a dozen outdoor items on her website that weigh around 60 pounds and says she is absorbing the additional cost, but isn’t sure she can do so much longer.  Her product costs have already risen 10-18% on average because manufacturers are experiencing raw material and labor cost increases. Add that to rising import and shipping rates, growing packaging costs, her own higher labor costs and domestic carrier shipping costs, she adds “we only have so much profit to work from and all of these outside issues are eating away at the pie. There is barely any left at the end of the day.” Inflation has certainly been in the news over the past few months and while the Federal Reserve is dismissing it as transitory, many others, especially ones running businesses are losing confidence and believe higher prices are here to stay.

Many businesses are also struggling to find labor. Advertisements for help are at near all-time highs, but roughly 16 million people are still at home accepting some form of government assistance left over from stimulus bills and subsidies. Whatever the reason, and people do have reasons for not wanting or not being able to work, the situation doesn’t seem to be ending in the near future.

Chopa Zen Home has been working diligently with our providers in Japan to continue offering fine kimono and yukata to our customers throughout the Pandemic and we will work hard to do so in the future. Japan is still facing capacity issues with lock downs and partial closures. We have rearranged and restructured our production schedules to better align with their manufacturing abilities. If a select fabric or print isn’t available, we back order it and move on to what is deliverable. We have also faced large shipping cost increases and so far, have absorbed these.  In fact, we recently reduced our standard ground shipping cost to just $6.95 and continue to offer Free Shipping on orders of $75.00 or more within the USA. Rather than getting bottlenecked at shipping ports and having orders delayed for weeks or months, we have mainly turned to Air Freight to obtain our shipments directly. It is much more expensive than Ocean rates, but allows us to maintain a broader and more diverse inventory on a regular basis.

While we don’t anticipate shortages of kimono and yukata per se, we would encourage customers to shop earlier. While receiving smaller monthly shipments throughout the year, we rely on large quantity shipments in the Spring, Summer and Fall. Our annual Fall shipment normally arrives in time for the Christmas shopping season and allows us to offer a great selection of styles, patterns and sizing. But we are well aware of the many obstacles facing retailers this year and sometimes events occur beyond our control. We normally publish an extended return window well before the Holiday gift buying season which allows you to shop early and still be able to return or exchange a robe after Christmas. As always, we welcome feedback, ideas, comments and the like. Use our online contact form to send us a message, post below on this Blog or visit us on Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

holiday shopping

Photo courtesy of Andrea Piacquadio.

January Best Selling Kimono and Yukata.

Friday, February 5th, 2021

Top 5 Sellers for January, 2021.

1) Dragon and Bamboo Yukata
2) Great Wave Yukata (Purple)
3) Navy Longevity Yukata
4) Tree of Life Yukata
5) Navy Dragon Yukata

Top five selling robes.

Top Five Best Sellers for January.

New Shipment of Kimono and Yukata Arrived!

Monday, January 18th, 2021

Chopa strives to have a full offering of Japanese Kimono and Yukata at all times, but with sudden surges in sales related to Holiday Gifts, a mention in social media or a large bulk order, we experience shortages from time to time. We like to be busy and shipping hundreds and hundreds of robes, but we dislike running out and work hard to alleviate the dreaded “Out of Stock” notation on any particular style.

The good news is that a new shipment, the first of the year, just arrived and we are pleased to announce that over 25 sizes and colors are back in stock and ready to ship. Among the list of new arrivals are the Men’s Kagome yukata, the ever popular “Dragon” yukata, Tree of Life, Daimonji Kimono, Royal Cranes, Ukiyoe, Dragon and Tiger, Cherry Blossoms, and Ribbons Kimono.

Some styles are offered in five different sizes and those are back in stock. This is just the first of many more shipments scheduled over the year. We generally receive new inventory monthly along with several large shipments in the Spring, Summer and Fall. It has been more difficult scheduling over the past 6 months due to Covid restrictions throughout Japan. Production has slowed and in many situations, our producers are working with smaller staffs for social distancing and to allow others to work from home.

We welcome inquiries on any pattern or style of kimono or yukata we offer. If you don’t see a size in stock, email us and we can let you know when we expect more to arrive. Chopa offers a free email notification service to anyone. When a particular size or style is available, we send you a courtesy email alerting you of the news.  There is never an obligation to make a purchase and we will only send you one email.  It’s a free service and we are happy to monitor upcoming shipments for you.

Happy Shopping!

kimono and yukata robes

Fresh Kimono and Yukata.

 

Chopa Zen Home and Gift Receives 2014 Best of Panama City Beach Award

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chopa – Your Kimono Source Since 1994,  Receives 2014 Best of Panama City Beach Award

Panama City Beach Award Program Honors the Achievement

PANAMA CITY BEACH April 24, 2014 — Chopa has been selected for the 2014 Best of Panama City Beach Award in the Online Retailer category by the Panama City Beach Award Program.

Each year, the Panama City Beach Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Panama City Beach area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2014 Panama City Beach Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Panama City Beach Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Panama City Beach Award Program

The Panama City Beach Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Panama City Beach area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Panama City Beach Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Panama City Beach Award Program

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