The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1961–2025
Inoue Tsusho's ¥12.3B apparel import business collapsed with ¥4.1B debt
A 63-year-old apparel import wholesaler saw revenue collapse 84% as COVID and yen depreciation destroyed import margins.
Inoue Tsusho Co., Ltd. · 2025-02-21
What happened
Inoue Tsusho Co., Ltd. was an Osaka-based import wholesaler founded in June 1961. It imported apparel, clothing accessories, daily goods, and food products from China, Taiwan, and other Asian countries, selling to wholesalers and retailers across Japan. At its peak in the fiscal year ending January 2020, annual revenue reached ¥12.3 billion.
COVID-19 delivered the first blow: retail stores closed, supply chains broke down, and imported inventory could not reach customers on time. Revenue plunged. The company sold its real estate holdings to stay afloat, but the restructuring was temporary. When Japan shifted to 'living with COVID' in 2023, a new crisis emerged — rapid yen depreciation and inflation made imports dramatically more expensive, squeezing margins to nothing.
By the fiscal year ending January 2024, revenue had collapsed to ¥2.0 billion — an 84% decline from peak. With no path to recovery, Inoue Tsusho filed for bankruptcy in February 2025 with total liabilities of approximately ¥4.1 billion. The company had also operated a mail-order brand called arbol and provided trade consulting services, but these could not offset the collapse of its core import wholesale business.
Why it happened
- COVID-19 disrupted supply chains and retail demand simultaneously — stores closed and imported inventory could not reach customers, cutting revenue sharply.
- Selling real estate to survive was a one-time fix that bought time but did not change the underlying cost structure or business model.
- Yen depreciation and inflation after 2023 made imported goods permanently more expensive — as an import wholesaler, Inoue Tsusho had no way to pass these costs through without losing customers.
- The company operated a single dominant business model (import wholesale) with no diversification or hedge against currency and logistics shocks.
The lesson
A one-trick import wholesaler is exposed to forces it cannot control — supply chains, currency rates, and inflation can each kill margins alone, and they rarely arrive one at a time.
Aftermath
Inoue Tsusho Co., Ltd. filed for bankruptcy in February 2025 with approximately ¥4.1 billion in liabilities. The company had operated since 1961, peaking at ¥12.3 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2020 and declining to ¥2.0 billion by fiscal 2024. It had also run the mail-order brand arbol and provided trade consulting and settlement agency services.
Sources
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