The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1966–2026
Matsumi, the 60-year Nagoya uniform maker, ends with its founder
Founded July 1966, uniform maker Matsumi closed after its founder died in October 2025 with no successor — bankruptcy ordered July 13, 2026, ¥150m in debt.
Matsumi · 2026-07-13
What happened
Matsumi was founded on 1 July 1966 in Meito Ward, Nagoya, and spent six decades making uniforms: workwear, white coats for medical and care settings, office wear and service wear for restaurants. For sixty years it dressed the region's workplaces.
The market under it was shrinking. Cheap overseas products rose, and more companies simplified or abolished uniforms altogether. Then, in October 2025, the founder and former president died. No successor was settled, and with the ownership question unanswered Matsumi gave up continuing the business.
On 13 July 2026 the Nagoya District Court opened bankruptcy proceedings, with total liabilities of around ¥150 million. Sixty years of uniform-making ended not with a lost price war alone but with the person the business was built around.
Why it happened
- The structural headwind — cheap imports and companies dropping uniforms — eroded the business before the succession question arrived.
- Succession was never resolved while the founder was alive; once he died there was nobody to carry a shrinking business.
- A sixty-year customer base and trade name could not be converted into a sale or transfer in time — the company chose bankruptcy over a search for a buyer.
The lesson
Nagoya uniform maker Matsumi ran 60 years, then cheap imports and vanishing dress codes shrank the market; when the founder died in October 2025 with no successor, the ¥150m-debt firm filed.
Aftermath
Matsumi received the bankruptcy opening order from the Nagoya District Court on 13 July 2026, with liabilities of around ¥150 million. The sixty-year-old uniform business winds down with no successor and no announced buyer.
Sources
- TBS NEWS DIG (CBC) — "[Bankruptcy] Founder's death and rise of cheap overseas products… Uniform manufacturing/sales company goes bankrupt, total liabilities about ¥150 million", 4 August 2026 (uniform manufacturing/sales Matsumi received bankruptcy opening order from Nagoya District Court on 13 July; total liabilities about ¥150 million; Matsumi founded July 1966; founder's death and rise of cheap overseas products)
- Kicks Blog (corporate credit watch) — "Nagoya's Matsumi receives bankruptcy opening order, liabilities about ¥150 million…", 4 August 2026 (Matsumi, Meito Ward, Nagoya; founded 1 July 1966; uniform planning/manufacturing/sales — workwear, medical/care white coats, office wear, food-service service wear; October 2025 founder and former president died; no successor settled, gave up continuing business; environment reasons: rise of cheap overseas products and moves by companies to simplify or abolish uniforms; received bankruptcy opening order from Nagoya District Court on 13 July 2026; total liabilities about ¥150 million)
- Jc-net (n-seikei) — "[Aichi] Matsumi Co. / bankruptcy opening order, uniform and workwear manufacturing", July 2026 (Matsumi Co., 3-chome Kanare, Meito Ward, Nagoya; uniform and workwear manufacturing; bankruptcy opening order 23 July 2026 reporting round)
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