The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 1971–2025
Meisen (明繊), Gifu menswear maker since 1971, declared bankrupt in 2025
Meisen, a Gifu maker of men's casual wear that once sold ¥6.5B a year, was declared bankrupt in August 2025 after 54 years.
Meisen (明繊株式会社) · 2025-08-29
What happened
Meisen was founded in Gifu City in 1971 and spent more than five decades planning, manufacturing and selling men's casual wear. It supplied wholesale volumes to mass retailers and specialty shops and did OEM production on the side, riding the post-war growth of Japan's apparel industry. Sales peaked at about ¥6.5 billion in the fiscal year ending June 1990.
The peak was the turning point. After 1990 the company declined for decades as competition intensified across the men's wear market and its wholesale customer base shrank. Sales fell continuously, and the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a further blow to demand for clothing and to the retail channel Meisen depended on.
By the time of bankruptcy the company was in chronic deficit with tight cash flow. On 29 August 2025 the Gifu District Court issued an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings, with total liabilities of about ¥600 million.
Its business is expected to be transferred to and continued by a sponsor company, rather than wound down outright.
Why it happened
- Sales never recovered from the 1990 peak: decades of intensifying competition in men's wear shrank Meisen's wholesale volumes year after year.
- The COVID-19 pandemic hit the clothing market and its retail channel hard, converting a slow decline into an acute cash crisis.
- Chronic deficits left no buffer: by 2025 liabilities of roughly ¥600 million and persistent negative earnings left the court no path but bankruptcy.
The lesson
A 1990 peak is not a foundation: Meisen's market peaked with it, and thirty-five years of decline left the company with no response when COVID finished the job.
Aftermath
The Gifu District Court issued a bankruptcy commencement order for Meisen on 29 August 2025, with liabilities of about ¥600 million. The business is expected to be taken over by a sponsor company, keeping at least part of the operation alive.
Sources
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