10 Best Japanese Clothing Brands That Should Be On Your Radar in 2023

It's been a couple of years now since the Japanese apparel giant entered India—quickly becoming pretty much everyone's top brand. Uniqlo is known for their top-notch street style, comfort, and on-trend apparel right from the best of the best supima cotton tee shirts, puffer jackets, to formal wear. What we love the most about the brand is how seamlessly it has been able to fuse fashion with technology with their 3D print machines. Other than that, their clothes and accessories are always on trend yet have a sort of a street-style-meets-timeless charm.

Pro-Tip: Find out if the Uniqlo capsule bag is worth the hype.

This unisex, genderless brand has been popping up pretty much everywhere on our feeds, especially for its unique asymmetrical clothes that scream runway fashion. Yamamoto debuted in 1981 at Paris—revolutionising the world of fashion through his philosophy of 'conquering fashion through antithesis', which is mainly an antithesis to traditional western clothing. What we love most is how effortless yet high-end the clothes look with black being a dominant colour used throughout.

Pro-Tip: Check out more ideas for all-black outfits here.  

The minute we walk into a Muji store, we immediately want to fill our baskets with everything the store has to offer. Lucky for us, it is available in India. What we love most about Muji is the fact that they have stuff across categories from stationary, wellness, crockery to apparel. Their apparel however, is filled with gorgeous neutral pallets, typical Japanese silhouette and, of course, high-quality materials. They have stuff for men, women, and kids, which makes it quite a multi-faceted spot. 

Spotted on the likes of Kanye and Soulja Boy, A Bathing Ape is a brand that is filled to the brim with unique prints, designs, and a streetwear aesthetic. Founded in 1993, it soon became famous in the underground scene in Harajuku, Tokyo, before being propelled to international acclaim. What we find fascinating and what is special about the brand, making it one of the best Japanese ones out there is that through the years APE has continued to release its signature high-end streetwear and is regarded as one of the OGs in the space.

Established in 1996, WTAPS, pronounced as double taps inspired from the military term for two shots fired at the same target in succession. It is a Japanese fashion brand whose apparel is fully inspired by authentic military designs, blending seamlessly with streetwear sensibilities to form some of the most sought-after Japanese streetwear. Even a simple glance at their 2023 autumn/winter collections reveals how much the brand relies on simple, solid colours along with clean cuts. Other than this, their camouflage pieces are considered streetwear royalty making them super precious and a bit hard to get a hold of—adding to the charm and cult following of the brand.

Blue Blue Japan can be summed up in two words—indigo and workwear styles that are classic and timeless. As the name suggest, the brand is known for its traditional use of indigo. What we love about the brand, and what makes it so special is it's homage to indigo dyeing (Aizome) that's deep rooted in Japanese culture. The clothes are all understated, workwear styles without overt branding. The brand's ideology is also rooted in the fact that they create products that are meant to last a lifetime, which automatically gets brownie points from us.

What caught our eye while checking out Sacai is how wonderfully they manage to merge luxury with streetwear. Their latest, and what pretty much propelled the brand into global fame has been their collaboration with Nike on the LD Waffle Silhouette. Additionally, what attracts us to Sacai and makes it one of the best Japanese brands is how their collections look to androgynous silhouettes that lean mostly towards streetwear, blurring the lines between formal and casual. We're big fans of the knits, and the scrunched up blazers that look every bit couture meets street fashion. 

If elegance, formal wear, and comfort had a baby, it would be Auralee. But that has already happened because this brand is hitting it out of the park with their gorgeous minimal clothes. Everything has a clean, sophisticated look to it, giving us very old-money meets modern minimalism, which is so fresh and unique but makes absolute sense. The brand doesn't believe in bold, flashy designs and is fully driven by evolving minimalism with colour palettes that are pleasing. Further everything is consciously sourced from wools to cottons. What we can't wait to get our hands when we visit Japan sometime are the knitwear and coats.

Undercover's ideology can be best summed up by their motto itself—'We make noise, not clothes'. You can also recognise them from their latest viral runway show of spring 2024, where models wore dresses made up of literal ecosystems! They're all about rebellion, blending pop and punk along with goth, bondage, and post-modern aesthetics to create a very punk streetwear brand. At first glance, the clothes look supremely street-y with bold designs and graphic prints on sweatshirts and hoodies, giving a very Gen Z vibe, which also makes sense because now they're coveted and one of the most sought-after pieces for collectors. However, after spotting their 2024 spring collection, we're excited to see where the brand is headed. 

Brainchild of MIYAGIHIDETAKA, Miyagi Hidetaka established the brand simply because he couldn't find the clothes he wanted to wear. So, he took a quality-first approach and created something truly magical in the form of his brand that is steeped in Japanese culture and history. What truly stands out and what makes a MIYAGIHIDETAKA recognisable are their paisley bandana prints that can be seen on everything from a shirt to a tote bag. For us, we've got our eye on the shirts that not only look cool, but are also worth every bit, adding to our collection.