The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · until 2025
Factory UJ, a Tokyo leather-shoe OEM, went under as material costs surged
Factory UJ, a Tokyo leather-shoe OEM that peaked at about ¥200M in sales, was ordered bankrupt on 5 December 2025 with about ¥250M in liabilities.
Factory UJ · 2025-12-05
What happened
Factory UJ (ファクトリーUJ) was a leather-shoe maker registered in Adachi-ku, Tokyo and based in Soka, Saitama. It produced high-grade women's and men's leather shoes as an OEM for other brands, a maker known for the quality of its craft rather than for its own label.
Founded in June 1992 and reorganized as a corporation in June 2006, the company peaked at about ¥200 million in sales in the fiscal year ending January 2023. Like many small Japanese makers, it depended on imported raw materials and on orders from retail chains it did not control.
Rising raw-material costs squeezed its margins, and in November 2025 the company began debt restructuring before abandoning continuation. On 5 December 2025 the Tokyo District Court issued a bankruptcy commencement order, with total liabilities of about ¥250 million.
Lawyer Chiyoko Shijuyama was appointed bankruptcy trustee. The case number was (フ) No. 8841.
Why it happened
- Imported raw materials grew more expensive, and as an OEM the company could not pass the cost on to the brands it built shoes for.
- A small contract maker with no brand of its own had no pricing power when margins tightened, so profitability fell and cash flow worsened.
- An attempted debt restructuring in November 2025 could not rescue the business, and the Tokyo District Court ordered bankruptcy with about ¥250 million in liabilities.
The lesson
An OEM that makes shoes for other brands has no lever when imports get pricier: it cannot raise prices without losing orders, and a ¥200M peak cannot survive a cost squeeze it does not control.
Aftermath
The Tokyo District Court ordered Factory UJ into bankruptcy on 5 December 2025, with liabilities of about ¥250 million. The company had begun debt restructuring the previous month before giving up on continuation, joining the many small Japanese footwear makers closed by rising input costs and declining margins.
Sources
- News-Free — Factory UJ (Saitama/Tokyo) bankruptcy order, ~¥250M liabilities, peak ~¥200M sales (Dec 2025)
- N-Seikei — Factory UJ (leather shoe maker) bankruptcy commencement order, Tokyo District Court, case (フ) No. 8841 (Dec 2025)
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