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Sales of “recovery wear,” clothing marketed as promoting blood circulation and easing fatigue through the effects of far-infrared radiation, are surging.

Combined annual sales across major suppliers now exceed 3 million pieces, and the market is projected to continue expanding.

Many companies have been aggressively running advertisements featuring celebrities such as model Ai Tominaga, singer Sho Sakurai and actor Yo Oizumi.

This year, the term was shortlisted for the Buzzword of the Year award.

The garments are typically made from fabrics woven with finely processed minerals and other materials.

Recovery wear was officially recognized as a category of general medical devices in 2022 under the name of “home-use far-infrared clothing for promoting blood circulation,” which allowed companies to advertise certain therapeutic effects on the body.

Workman Co., a major workwear retailer, sold 1.6 million pieces from its Mediheal autumn-winter line between September and October. This led to the company revising its full-year earnings forecast upward in its interim financial report released in November.

Including spring items, total sales since January have reached about 2 million pieces.

A long-sleeved shirt costs just 1,900 yen ($12), exceptionally inexpensive relative to competing products.

Tential Inc., which was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth Market in February, sold more than 1 million pieces of its Bakune functional pajamas as of August.

Other major suppliers include Venex Co., a small company in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, that first commercialized recovery wear 15 years ago. Another is MTG Co., known for its beauty line Refa, which launched a dedicated recovery wear brand, Red, in July.

JMA Research Institute Inc. projects that domestic retail sales of recovery wear will see an increase of roughly ninefold to 170 billion yen in the year leading up to summer 2030 compared to the 18.9 billion yen recorded in the year through summer 2024.

Scaling Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) Soy Across the Cerrado 

The 2025 Annual Report of the Soft Commodities Forum (SCF) outlines the shared commitment to decouple soft commodity production from deforestation and native vegetation conversion. The Soft Commodities specific focus is on Brazil’s Cerrado biome, one of the world’s most biodiverse and climate-critical regions.

Led by ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO International, and Louis Dreyfus Company, the SCF continues to scale up a regenerative and sustainable DCF soy supply chain, while transforming landscapes and strengthening producer-led resilience.

This year’s report highlights the consolidation of Cerrado-wide Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) monitoring, farmer-centered investment, and collective co-funding mechanisms that are unlocking impact at landscape scale.

1. Transforming Transparency: Full Cerrado Monitoring & Reporting

After expanding the SCF’s Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) reporting scope to the whole Cerrado biome, we consolidated Cerrado-wide monitoring and disclosure for DCF soy. 

This marks the first sector-wide baseline for transparency and accountability across one of the world’s most important soy-producing regions. 

Sectoral DCF Performance (2024/2025) 

The SCF established a permanent basis for measurable action, supported by an enhanced risk-based methodology and third-party verification, which enabled SCF members to report 93-99% of their Cerrado 2023/24 soy volumes as DCF. 

2. Driving Impact on the Ground: Farmer First Clusters (FFC) 

Monitoring is only meaningful when paired with action. 
The SCF’s Farmer First Clusters (FFC) initiative puts producers at the center of landscape transformation by combining technical assistance, financial incentives, and collaborative solutions in high-priority Cerrado regions. 

FFC Results (2025) 

$ 4.3M USD invested by SCF members in farmer incentives and local sustainable development approaches leading to: 

• 262 farms enrolled with 1.4M ha of farm area and 300k ha of native vegetation area 
• Over 150 ha of degraded land under restoration and 28K ha under integrated systems implementation  
• Over 46k ha of surplus legal reserve leading to 2.7M tons of potential CO2e collectively avoided, with R$2.5M paid to farmers as payment for ecosystem services.  

This progress throughout 2025 is an indication that this model works and now the focus is entirely on scaling up and bringing in more investments to have an even bigger impact.  

3. Scaling Landscape Impact: Results from the Sustainable Landscape Partnership (SLP) 

The Sustainable Landscapes Partnership (SLP), launched in 2024, accelerates solutions across the Cerrado through collaboration among SCF, Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition, and local technical partners. 

SLP Outcomes (2023–2026) 

US$10M invested through the FFC and FPC with + US$2.4M leveraged from the Land Innovation Fund and other partners, leading to: 

• 720 farms benefitted 
• >800k ha of potential DCF and sustainable production area 
• 400k ha of ecosystems protected 

These results demonstrate that landscape transformation is possible when companies, producers, finance, and NGOs work together. 

The Path Forward 

The SCF represents the advanced and collaborative efforts to align agribusiness action with sectoral and landscape transformation. As land use and food systems become central to the climate agenda, the SCF’s work provides a clear, operational model for how companies can contribute todeforestation-free soy value chains.