The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2020–2025
A six-store apparel chain went bankrupt as online shopping hollowed out its malls
A mall-tenant apparel chain with ¥88.4M in liabilities entered bankruptcy because online shopping and WFH emptied its stores.
Increase (インディーズ片, women's apparel chain) · 2025-10-01
What happened
Increase, a women's apparel chain based in Sakado City, Saitama, entered bankruptcy on 1 October 2025 with liabilities of about ¥88.4 million spread across 66 creditors. The commencement order came from the Saitama District Court, Kawagoe Branch, and was published by Tokyo Shoko Research's Saitama branch on 12 October.
The chain ran six stores, all tenants of shopping malls in Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa. Its business effectively stopped around May 2024, and the stores closed after operations were suspended.
The failure is a compact case of the online shift in apparel retail. COVID-19 going-out restrictions, the rapid growth of online shopping, and work-from-home all cut store visitor numbers sharply, and an EC market share that had grown past 30–35% of apparel sales left a mall-tenant model with too little foot traffic to cover its rent.
Founded as a sole proprietorship in November 1994 and incorporated in October 2018, the company belonged to a generation of small apparel retailers whose store-dependent economics the shift to e-commerce quietly dismantled.
Why it happened
- COVID-19 restrictions, the rapid growth of online sales, and work-from-home cut mall foot traffic faster than a small chain could adapt.
- A mall-tenant model carried a fixed rent burden that could not flex with collapsed sales, and the retailer had limited ability to adjust inventory.
- With EC taking more than 30–35% of apparel sales, the in-store customer base shrank to a level that could no longer cover the fixed costs of six locations.
- The company suspended operations in May 2024 and never resumed, running out of runway well before the formal bankruptcy order in October 2025.
The lesson
A store-based apparel model tied to foot traffic needs fixed-cost flexibility before the channel shift arrives — by the time rents outrun visitors, the rent does not adjust.
Aftermath
Increase, a six-outlet women's apparel chain based in Sakado City, Saitama, ceased business around May 2024 and had its bankruptcy commencement ordered on 1 October 2025 by the Saitama District Court, Kawagoe Branch, with liabilities of about ¥88.4 million across 66 creditors. The case was published by Tokyo Shoko Research's Saitama branch on 12 October 2025. The stores, tenant spaces in malls across Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa, were closed after operations were suspended.
Sources
- ニュースフリー (news-free) — インディーズ片 破産開始決定 負債約8840万円 洋服小売の同社、ネット通販の普及で来店客減少 (Oct 2025)
- 長官宮データバンク via n-seikei.jp — インディーズ片 破産開始決定、負債は約8840万円 埼玉県坂戸市 (Oct 2025)
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