UNEVEN, a menswear select shop, went under as the yen priced out its imports

UNEVEN was a menswear select shop in Sakae, Nagoya that stocked a heavy mix of imported foreign brands. A select shop's identity rested on curation and on brands the customer could not easily buy elsewhere, and much of that stock was purchased against foreign currency.

The yen's decline turned that model into a cost problem. Import purchase prices rose with the weak yen, and the shop could not pass the full increase on to customers who had cheaper alternatives. At the same time the market split toward the two ends — luxury at the top and ultra-cheap cross-border platforms at the bottom — and curation in the middle, niche but not premium, lost its standing.

The shop's own understaffing of showrooming also played a part: customers tried clothes in the store and bought them online at the cheapest price, so the physical shop absorbed the cost of the experience while another seller collected the sale. On 13 January 2026 the Nagoya District Court issued a bankruptcy commencement order for UNEVEN, and its online store had stopped selling by February.

The yen's fall raised import costs beyond what mid-range pricing could absorb, and showrooming let shoppers take the service and buy elsewhere, so UNEVEN closed.

Yen depreciation pushed up the landed cost of the foreign brands the shop lived on, squeezing a margin that mid-range pricing could not absorb.

The market polarised between luxury and ultra-low-price cross-border platforms, leaving curated mid-range fashion without a clear customer.

Showrooming — try in store, buy online — let shoppers take the service the shop paid for and give the sale to a cheaper seller elsewhere.

A select shop that resells other people's imported brands has no margin it controls. When the currency moves against it and cross-border platforms undercut its rack, there is nothing left to defend.

The Nagoya District Court ordered UNEVEN into bankruptcy on 13 January 2026. The company's online store had ceased sales by February. The case is part of a broader thinning of Japanese independent select shops squeezed between a weak yen and the rise of ultra-cheap cross-border e-commerce.