The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 1980–2025
Hoshino Towel (星野タオル), Ehime Imabari towel maker, bankrupt in 2025
Hoshino made Imabari towels since 1980 — competition, pricier cotton and resigning staff left it a ¥140M self-bankruptcy in December 2025.
Hoshino Towel (株式会社星野タオル) · 2025-12-22
What happened
Hoshino Towel was a towel manufacturer in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, founded in 1980. It made and sold brand towels in the Imabari tradition — the Ehime towels famous in Japan — and belonged to the Imabari Towel Industrial Association, selling mainly to towel wholesalers.
The business was squeezed from three sides at once: intensifying competition cut its prices, raw material costs rose, and resignations shrank its workforce.
The company stopped business on 22 December 2025 and prepared a self-bankruptcy filing, with total liabilities estimated at about ¥140 million.
Why it happened
- A commodity in a crowded market: Imabari towels are a famous name but not a protected one — every maker in Ehime competes on the same quality claim.
- Costs rose faster than prices: cotton and energy went up, and a wholesaler-serving maker had no brand premium to pass the increase on.
- The staff walked, and the towels stopped: resignations left the factory short-handed, and a small maker could not refill the floor.
The lesson
Three squeezes at once: competition cut Hoshino's prices, cotton raised its costs, and resignations emptied its floor — the Imabari towel maker stopped in December 2025.
Aftermath
Hoshino Towel stopped business on 22 December 2025 and prepared to file for self-bankruptcy, with total liabilities estimated at about ¥140 million. The company, founded in 1980 in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, manufactured and sold brand towels in the Imabari tradition and belonged to the Imabari Towel Industrial Association, selling mainly to towel wholesalers. Intensifying competition, rising raw material costs and a labor shortage caused by employee resignations made continued operation difficult.
Sources
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