The British darts maker betting on Japan for its next phase of growth

After more than five decades of manufacturing in England, Harrows Darts is expanding its international ambitions with a Japanese operation designed specifically for one of the sport’s most established Asian markets.

For more than 50 years, Harrows Darts has built its business from England. Its next phase of growth is taking shape more than 5,000 miles away in Tokyo.

The Hertfordshire based manufacturer has launched Harrows Tokyo, a Japanese subsidiary intended to strengthen its position in Japan and, ultimately, across the wider Asian darts market.

It marks an interesting evolution for a company founded as a small family business in North London in 1973 and now operating from Hoddesdon. Harrows says its catalogue has grown to around 800 products sold across more than 100 countries, while design and manufacturing remain in England.

Rather than simply exporting more British products, however, the company is attempting something more localised.

Harrows Tokyo will operate beneath the wider Harrows brand but has its own management, designers and market expertise. The intention is to combine the manufacturing experience of the British business with products and partnerships shaped around Japanese consumers.

That distinction matters because Japan is not, despite the announcement, a new market for Harrows.

The company first entered Japan's soft tip darts market during the 1980s and has continued selling there since. Harrows Tokyo is therefore less an arrival than an attempt to turn an existing presence into a considerably more substantial business.

A British manufacturer with a Japanese identity

The latest phase was unveiled at the Nippon Darts Festival in Tokyo on September 20, where Harrows Tokyo presented a capsule collection and outlined its plans for the business.

Its first products will concentrate on soft tip darts, an important part of the Japanese market. Further products for Britain and other international markets are expected to be confirmed before the end of 2026.

Damian Ara, managing director of Harrows Darts, said the company had deliberately resisted simply attaching Tokyo branding to its existing operation.

“We didn't want to take a successful British brand, put a Tokyo name on it and assume the same products and approach would work everywhere,” he said.

Instead, Harrows Tokyo has been given what Ara describes as a “distinctly Japanese DNA”, with local designers and management influencing its products and understanding of consumers.

For a British manufacturer attempting to grow internationally, that represents a more considered strategy than treating overseas expansion simply as an exercise in distribution.

Harrows brings its established manufacturing and product development capabilities. Its Japanese subsidiary is expected to provide the cultural and commercial knowledge required to determine what should actually be made for the market.

“We first entered the Japanese soft tip market in the 1980s and we have never left, so this isn't about entering a completely new market,” Ara said. “It's about taking an established presence and building on it in a much more significant way.”

Made in England, sold around the world

The expansion comes at an interesting time for darts.

Harrows has continued investing in its English operation and product development, including its Quick Point system and Fortis dartboard, while maintaining a professional roster that includes Dave Chisnall, Damon Heta, Ryan Searle and Luke Woodhouse.

It is also attempting to develop younger participation through youth academies and its NxtGen Harrows in Education programme.

Harrows Tokyo adds another dimension to that strategy. Although the subsidiary is being developed primarily for Japan and Asia, the company believes Japanese designed products could eventually find customers elsewhere.

Ara points particularly to Europe and the United States, where he believes there is already an appetite for Japanese design.

That creates the possibility of an unusual reversal. Harrows has spent decades taking British designed darts equipment into Japan. Its new subsidiary could eventually develop products in Japan that are then brought back to customers in Britain and other Western markets.

For Harrows, international expansion does not therefore mean moving away from its manufacturing base in Hertfordshire. The company says it will continue designing and manufacturing in England.

Instead, Harrows Tokyo represents an attempt to see how far a British manufacturing business can travel while allowing the markets it enters to shape what it becomes.