Summary
Japanese secondhand clothing specialty store VINTAGE BANK (Honjo, Saitama Prefecture) is strengthening its buying operations in northern Saitama and Gunma Prefectures. This region once prospered through the silk industry and had many people connected to the textile business, and many residents bought large quantities of American casual wear (Amekaji) in the 1980s and 1990s. VINTAGE BANK specializes in vintage American casual clothing (vintage Amekaji), regards the two areas as a "treasure trove" of vintage supply, and plans to attract customers from the Tokyo metropolitan area while building an integrated regional buying and sales chain.

Key Points

  • VINTAGE BANK (Honjo, Saitama Prefecture) specializes in vintage American casual clothing and is strengthening buying in northern Saitama and Gunma Prefectures.
  • Northern Saitama and Gunma were once key centers of the silk and textile industries, and local residents often bought American casual clothing in the 1980s and 1990s, leaving large inventories.
  • The company will deepen buying in domestic secondhand supply hubs and attract customers from the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Why Northern Saitama and Gunma Have So Much "Hidden Vintage"
VINTAGE BANK (ヴィンテージ バンク), headquartered in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, is a shop specializing in vintage old American casual clothing. The company is focusing its buying expansion on northern Saitama and Gunma Prefectures. This area has a distinctive feature: Japan's former silk industry once flourished there, producing many people with ties to the textile industry. Many local residents, following the trends of the 1980s and 1990s, bought and kept large amounts of American casual clothing (Amekaji). These old clothes now remain in local closets and warehouses, and certain categories are regarded by the international market as collectible "rediscovered" vintage, competing with other export destinations.

Rising Prices Drive the Buying Battle
In recent years, vintage clothing has commanded higher prices in the industry, especially early American products, and transaction prices have continued to rise. Secondhand shops in Europe, the United States, and major Japanese metropolitan areas, as well as overseas buyers, are all competing for such rare items. VINTAGE BANK's move to target the collection endpoints of the inland Kanto region is seen as an effort to extend its reach to new supply sources.

Another Focus: Attracting Tokyo Buyers
The company is not simply strengthening purchasing; it also hopes to expand its store reach to include customers from the Tokyo metropolitan area to improve performance. Its operating policy is based on the idea of an "integrated flow from buying and stocking to in-store purchasing," securing interested consumers in eastern Japan and offering travel-experience retail, using this as a competitive barrier to deepen the chain.

Significance for the Industry
This expanded buying focus shows that, against the backdrop of rising resale value for high-quality vintage clothing, operators are building an entry moat through "geographical and historical cultural inventory"—areas that once saw large inflows of textile products and high consumption of American clothing. Leveraging "forgotten inventory" is increasingly important in the secondhand industry, and it also provides content for implementing circular resale and purchasing demand scenarios in textile regions across Japan, with future trends still to be observed.

(All facts in this article are based on a Nikkei report published in September 2026; some content is subject to member limitations.)

Category Industry News

Source: 群馬･埼玉北部に古着の宝の山 ビンテージ･アメカジ店が買い取り強化 - 日本経済新聞 · Originally published 2026-09-28