Tokyo is among the most diversified, artistic and stimulating retail experiences on the earth.
Not solely is the town big, however every space has a definite really feel and environment, mirrored in its buying.
There are small, area of interest manufacturers in all places, in addition to workshops and artisans. A lot of these are distinctive to Japan, however even the designer manufacturers up their sport – typically with placing shops and developments.
There are too many to listing in full, however these 50+ outlets are our favourites. As with earlier guides, now we have centered on shops which might be just about unique to Tokyo.
I like to recommend wanting up the assorted shops on a map and grouping them into areas: the scale of Tokyo means it might take some time to get from one to a different. Under, nonetheless, we’ve divided the outlets into sections by sort, by curiosity. As a result of I do know not everybody might be concerned about each bespoke tailoring and classic workwear.
CLASSIC MENSWEAR
There are two branches of Anatomica in Tokyo, one pretty central in Aoyama, and one additional out in Nihonbashi. The latter is my favorite, however for those who don’t have time to journey particularly to it, then do pop into the one in Aoyama as a substitute.
The clothes is moderately totally different to the Paris retailer that readers could be extra aware of (and we coated right here) however the mixture of French and Japanese artistic administrators means the garments are an enchanting mixture of cultures and kinds, with berets and conventional Japanese handkerchiefs alongside authentic workwear designs.
2 Bryceland’s Co
Bryceland’s is a distinct segment menswear retailer opened in 2016 by Ethan Newton. It mixes gentle Italian tailoring with workwear resembling chore jackets and denims, and vintage-style items resembling rayon shirts.
We’ve coated and reviewed a number of Bryceland’s items through the years, and they are often discovered on the model’s web page right here. Tailor Anglofilo works out of the again of the store.
Leather-based grasp Naoyuki Komatsu has a stellar repute. He runs a small workshop referred to as Ortus, which does 90% bespoke items resembling day luggage and wallets.
Every part is solely hand sewn – in truth, Komatsu even goes so far as to make the brass {hardware} himself, crafting these additions small works of magnificence in themselves. Commerce mark designs embrace the ‘music bag’ – a briefcase made of 1 piece of leather-based with a brass bar securing the only deal with. Devoted submit on Ortus right here. Additionally superb, significantly with conventional kinds of bag, is the older operation Fugee.
L&Concord is a shoe retailer specialising in vulcanised canvas sneakers resembling Doek, Pras and Moonstar. However not solely have they got an even bigger vary of these manufacturers than you’ll discover anyplace else, in addition they have manufacturers resembling Asahi, Yomiya and others. Plus there are equipment, socks and luggage.
It’s slightly out of the best way, however for those who’re uptown close to Ginza or Ueno, it’s definitely worth the detour.
Ring Jacket was the primary Japanese tailoring model to attain critical recognition world wide, largely due to the promotion of The Armoury in Hong Kong and New York. There are two shops in Tokyo, in Ginza and Aoyama, and it’s also stocked in Isetan.
The model is Italian and soft-shouldered, though there’s a vary of fashions (an honest motive to go to one of many standalone shops moderately than simply Isetan) they usually additionally provide equipment and leather-based items, all with moderately Italian styling. The tailoring is properly made and good worth, significantly in Japan in comparison with imported Italian manufacturers.
6 Eyewear: Solakzade, Gig Lamps and others
Out on the business buying strip of Omotesando Hills is classic jewelry and glasses specialist Solakzade. The store just isn’t instantly apparent – it’s on the basement ground down a small flight of steps – and is a stone-and-gold cavern inside.
Run by two brothers, the vary is eclectic, every little thing from the nineteenth century to the Seventies. However everybody there is aware of the inventory inside out, and it’s price speaking to them about kinds if in case you have even only a passing curiosity in previous frames. Upstairs is males’s jewelry, however this may also be mentioned and accessed downstairs. Devoted submit on Solakzade right here.
Additionally price a glance is Gig Lamps Eyewear, in Meguru Metropolis – a number of metro stops away. And for those who’re concerned about eyewear extra usually, Aoyama is the place for it – the principle strip has an enormous focus, together with locations like Eye-Van.
It received’t shock most readers to be taught that there’s a Japanese model taking hangers to a very excessive stage. Right here it’s Nakata Hangers, a 70-year-old household enterprise that provides lots of the nation’s manufacturers and malls, however in recent times has additionally centered on promoting significantly high-end items to finish shoppers.
The store in Minato Metropolis is extra arrange for wholesale than retail, however if you would like stunning, distinctive hangers in your bespoke tailoring, it’s price a go to to see the merchandise in individual. They’re bought within the UK by Arterton.
8 Union Works and Sarto Ginza
These two are price mentioning as a result of they’re examples of how properly the Japanese do the issues round menswear, resembling repairs. Union Works has three shops in Tokyo providing shoe restore, but additionally does a plethora of different work, and has a small line of garments and equipment. Sarto, then again, has grown to the purpose of getting a number of branches, altering and repairing every little thing from fits to leather-based jackets, holds trunk exhibits with the likes of B&Tailor, and even has its personal in-house shoemaker.
WORKWEAR
The Actual McCoy’s is my private favorite workwear model, and never solely is their high quality unsurpassed, however the vary is big, from leathers to denims to sportswear. Till lately they’d a store in London, however even then it wasn’t as large as this one in Tokyo. It’s downstairs, however don’t let the doorway idiot you – it’s large.
Freewheelers is one other workwear model on the prime of its sport – extra of a biker focus than McCoy’s, however nice high quality. The store can be charming – you would possibly suppose it’s referred to as Desolation Row from the surface, or Uncle John’s Bait & Sort out, so look out for these names as properly.
3 M’Arijuan (D’Artisan)
One other good one is M’Arijuan, which is the house of Osaka-five member Studio D’Artisan and others in that group, resembling Orgueil, which I’ve come to understand since they’ve been at Clutch Cafe in London.
Proper on the nook, it is a pleasant little multibrand retailer with each repro and trendy manufacturers – Camber and Chamula, Engineered Clothes and Needles. It additionally has a pleasant number of classic southwestern jewelry.
4 Full Depend, The Flat Head, Lewis Leathers in Harajuku
This space of city – Harajuku and Omotesando – has the headquarters of a lot of the different workwear manufacturers that followers within the US, UK and elsewhere will know from their native stockists. They embrace Full Depend and The Flat Head, plus the British establishment Lewis Leathers.
There’s additionally Time Worn Clothes: much less well-known and never all the time the friendliest, however with an enormous following for its At Final denim model and Butcher sportswear. That’s over in Shibuya.
5 Phigvel
An space of city that was new to us on this journey was Nakameguro, and I’m actually happy we made the time to go down. It’s a stunning district, with outlets ranged alongside a canal hung with bushes. Our favorite discovery there was Phigvel, which though workwear-influenced, very a lot updates these kinds and affords them in a clear, trendy palette.
One other good store within the space for workwear is Put up O’Alls, and there are each males’s and ladies’s Nigel Cabourn branches.
Over within the Daikanyama space, the little UES store has sadly closed since we had been final right here (2019). However thankfully the rambling Okura remains to be open.
The unique flagship retailer for Blue Blue Japan, it’s styled like a Japanese warehouse (kura) and is nice for anybody that loves indigo-dyed clothes. It’s stocked ground to ceiling with indigo-dyed jackets, T-shirts, sweatshirts and kimonos, each from Blue Blue Japan and cheaper variations made abroad. Look out for items in sashiko fabric.
VINTAGE/KOENJI
Classic buying in Japan is roofed in a separate buying information, right here. That piece consists of not simply central Tokyo (Harajuku) but additionally Koenji, the vintage-specialist space outdoors the centre, and locations in Osaka and Kobe.
Amongst my favourites are Berbejin in Harajuku, Safari (all of them) in Koenji, and Acorn in Osaka. I’ll additionally use this part to say an excellent non-vintage retailer in Koenji, which is Mogi…
1 Mogi
Mogi was based by Terry Ellis, a London-raised designer who lives most of his 12 months in Japan. Finest identified for heading the Fennica model at Beams, Terry lately arrange his personal impartial retailer in Koenji that mixes people artwork with new and previous menswear. It’s an inspiration, and price a go to to Koenji by itself.
DEPARTMENT STORES
1 Isetan
Department shops in Japan do issues very properly, from the model combine to the merchandising. However one factor that can set them aside for a lot of readers is the presence of bespoke and made-to-measure clothes, from all world wide.
Isetan is price seeing for the pure department-store expertise, although additionally make sure that to go to the made-to-measure space and look out for any trunk exhibits occurring on the time. Oh, and there’s a complete constructing only for menswear.
Strasburgo takes this a step additional. With a extra choose vary, and barely extra sartorial method than the opposite malls, it has a number of branches across the metropolis.
I like to recommend Minami Aoyama, for each the RTW choice and the Tailor’s Lab that was established right here on the third ground a number of years in the past. There you can see a workshop housing artisans resembling shirtmaker Masanori Yamagami and tailor Noriyuki Higashi (Sartoria Raffaniello). Trouser-maker Igarashi additionally began out right here.
3 Beams F and Worldwide Gallery Beams
Having stated this, on our most up-to-date journey to Tokyo it was Beams that basically stood out. I feel it was as a result of we had been wanting much less at bespoke producers, extra at retail usually, and it was a salient reminder of how a lot better Beams does it than anyplace else on the earth.
Go into Beams Worldwide Gallery and also you instantly uncover a bunch of European makers you could’t get in London – maybe have by no means even heard of. Sandals from Giacometti, moccasins from Castellano, Paraboot particular editions which might be unique to Japan. It reminds you the way poor English malls are on all this stuff.
Beams F is extra tailoring and smarter clothes, whereas Beams Plus is extra informal (and readers could be aware of from elsewhere). Whereas we had been there the home windows had been filled with a collaboration with LL Bean.
In comparison with the shops above, Tomorrowland is extra fashion-focused, however the males’s facet tends to be pretty basic and have some fascinating variants on menswear staples. It carries its personal model in addition to vary of others, together with Zits Studios, Dries Van Noten and James Perse.
FASHION/CASUAL
So, we’re not speaking excessive style right here, or certainly low-end mass-market style. Slightly, it is a house for craft-based manufacturers like 45R or Visvim that don’t actually fall into basic or workwear classes – maybe as a result of few locations on the earth do this type of clothes like Japan.
1 45R
45R is an innovator in pure, crafted clothes that always entails natural indigo dye. The items are deceptively easy, uncompromisingly made, and meant to look classic from the second they’re supplied. They’re costly, on a par with designer labels, however all that cash goes into the product and course of.
The garments might be uncommon, however there are all the time nice denims, tees and bandanas as properly. I fully get why some individuals don’t take to the model, however for those who like craft, they deserve your time in understanding what they do. There are a number of outlets in Tokyo, however the one to go to for those who can is the flagship Badou-R.
2 Kapital
Kapital is comparable, however so much weirder. There’s typically a whole lot of craft concerned within the clothes, however the outcomes will typically be extra excessive in design and proportion. Personally it’s much less for me, however the model is exclusive and Tokyo has the best expression of it. The primary store is in Shibuya, however Kountry has the weirdest items and the ladies’s store, oddly in a pristine shopping center.
3 Visvim
Like the 2 above, however costlier and extra fashion-driven. Visvim typically takes inspiration from basic items of menswear, and there’s an excellent quantity of craft concerned, however there’s a motive the HQ in Nakameguro feels extra like an artwork museum than a store. I’d say it’s positively price a go to for those who’re within the space, or just like the model, however I wasn’t personally tempted by something.
4 1LDK
An fascinating instance of an excellent multi-brand store, which is one thing that’s quick disappearing in the remainder of the world. Largely extra informal, however with nice manufacturers like Auralee and Arpenteur, plus Comoli, Kaptain Sunshine and Studio Nicholson. There are two outlets, each price a glance, in Nakameguro.
Arts & Science is a small chain of shops in Tokyo based by stylist Sonya Park. It’s an fascinating crossover between Japanese crafts and trendy, minimal sensibilities, with equipment, menswear and womenswear. Though the clothes providing is fairly small, it’s a good place to seek out uncommon (if costly) homewares and equipment, in easy kinds and hues. Look out for free linen jackets, wood containers and leather-based pouches. Both the Aoyama or Daikanyama branches.
6 Open air manufacturers: Snow Peak, Nanga and everybody else
Strolling spherical Omotesando, one can’t assist however discover what number of outdoor manufacturers there are. Everybody has an enormous flagship, North Face and Patagonia, Japanese specialists like Snow Peak and Nanga.
The non-Japanese manufacturers typically have merchandise which might be solely accessible right here too, or there are labels which might be the results of licensing offers, like North Face Purple Label that’s truly owned by Goldwin, the clothes conglomerate that additionally has its personal retailer.
BESPOKE MAKERS
A number of the best bespoke makers of menswear are in Japan, regardless of often studying their commerce in Europe. These are a number of the greatest, although do bear in mind it’s mandatory (or no less than well mannered) to make an appointment.
1 Shoemakers: Yohei Fukuda, Seiji McCarthy, Marquess
Japan has an enormous variety of bespoke shoemakers, maybe greater than the entire of Europe mixed. They’re largely younger, working in small workshops, and good worth for cash – although the small measurement can imply there are lengthy ready instances. Most significantly, their high quality is superb, typically excelling these European masters they learnt from.
There are too many to try to advocate any particularly, however it’s actually price attempting to see Yohei Fukuda, Seiji McCarthy and Shoji Kawaguchi, the latter working below the model Marquess. Extra on them at these hyperlinks, and customarily on Japanese shoemakers right here.
2 Tailors: Sartoria Ciccio, Anglofilo and others
There aren’t fairly as many new tailors as shoemakers in Japan, however the high quality of the work remains to be very excessive. They’re largely influenced by the gentle tailoring of the south of Italy, though some additionally educated in Florence or Milan. English affect is felt solely within the older, extra conventional tailors.
The very best identified is Noriyuki Ueki, who runs Sartoria Ciccio. He educated in Naples and cuts a soft-shouldered swimsuit with a Japanese stage of precision. Others embrace Anglofilo, Sartoria Domenica and Vick Tailor. You possibly can learn extra about them right here.
3 Trouser makers: Igarashi and Osaku
There are a few workshops specialising in bespoke trousers price highlighting: Igarashi and Osaku. Of those two, Igarashi is within the centre of Tokyo and is due to this fact simpler to go to. Osaku works from a small city outdoors of the town, and is available in for appointments.
There’s a comparable stage of precision to their work as there’s with the remainder of Japanese craft, and a give attention to particulars resembling curved waistbands and neat choose stitching. Extra on them right here.
NON-MENSWEAR
These wishing to see conventional Japanese craft in Tokyo ought to think about visiting Motoji, probably the most well-known of the kimono makers within the metropolis. Though not one of the work is finished on-site (cloth is produced all spherical Japan, and tailoring achieved outdoors the town), the store, its bolts of fabric and completed kimonos are a digital museum of craft in themselves.
2 Chicago kimonos
The opposite method to expertise kimonos is less expensive – go to a second-hand store like Chicago in Harajuku. There you will notice a variety of pre-owned items from the seventies to the current day, in addition to all the categories and components of males’s and ladies’s kimono.
The very fact there are outer jackets, interior layers and even quick ceremonial jackets, means there’s more likely to be one thing for everybody. I purchased a fantastic seventies olive silk kimono for £65.
3 Cow Books and Tsutaya books
Tsutaya is a series of bookstores, however the one in Daikanyama is absolutely pretty – there are few higher locations to know how a lot the Japanese love printed materials, with an enormous number of coffee-table books and magazines.
Cow Books, in Nakameguro, is an second-hand bookstore that specialises within the arts and counter-culture works, but additionally has a surprisingly giant vary of style titles, together with previous copies of magazines like Popeye. For those who like magazines, Magnif Zinebocho on the opposite facet of city can be price visiting.
4 Ubukeya knives and Edoya brushes
Two pretty outlets which might be shut collectively, specialising in Japanese knives and brushes. As in a whole lot of extra conventional shops, there’s little English among the many workers, however that isn’t actually wanted to know the product, and for those who’re after one thing specific then pointing and playacting often do the job.
