Tokyo - Japanese retailer Muji has opened a new story in Tokyo which is equipped with a Lonati hosiery knitting machine positioned right in the centre of the shop floor.

The installation of the latest SbyS hosiery knitting technology, which includes toe-closing capability, allows customers to design their own socks, which are then knitted in-store.

The motto of the new store is, "Production at the point of sale". The 2,800 square metre store is located in the Nishikishicho Park shopping center and is the largest MUJI distribution area in western Japan.

"The knitting machine, which is able to commission socks of any size and design on the spot, is actually the main attraction of the Muij store: a circular machine for Italian Lonati stockings," Muji said. "A PC interface allows the user to insert a design or fantasy of his own creation, which the machine can reproduce in seven different sizes. Delivery is currently scheduled for one week from the order, but times should be progressively reduced.

"The Lonati machine allows you to order within the store even the articles so far available only online, such as female and male sizes (respectively smaller and larger than the Muji standard)," said Muji's Ishikawa Kazuko. "Creating a sales point with its own production capacity is an initiative that has never been tried before by Muji, with which we aim to improve the customer experience by offering the freedom to choose items of the most suitable size and design for each one.

"The display in which it is possible to observe how a sock is born seems destined to become a real magnet for the eyes of potential clients, including tourists. Not only that, but from a careful analysis of the most requested sizes and designs for 'on demand' production it will be possible to identify new trends so far ignored. For the immediate future, it is planned in the meantime to extend the personalization of the articles to the length in addition to the size of the foot."