SHIPS from Japan

What is a Japanese select shop, and what does SHIPS stock?

SHIPS is one of Japan's major select shops, in the same tier as BEAMS and UNITED ARROWS. A Japanese select shop is not a single-brand store and not a department store: it buys a curated mix of outside brands and sells them next to its own in-house labels, which for SHIPS include lines such as SHIPS any and SHIPS days. The house labels are the part overseas buyers cannot replicate — they are designed and sold for the Japanese market and are not distributed through the outside brands' own international channels.

Why buy SHIPS from Japan rather than buying the same brands locally?

The specific reason is 別注 (betchū), the Japanese term for a special make produced to a retailer's own specification. Select shops routinely commission exclusive versions of an outside brand's product — different fabric, different colour, different detailing — and those versions exist only in that retailer's Japanese range. If you have seen a version of a familiar brand that you cannot find on the brand's own site, a 別注 is usually the explanation, and the Japanese market is the only place it is sold.

How do Japanese sizes compare with US sizes at SHIPS?

Japanese domestic sizing generally runs about one size smaller than US sizing for the same letter, so a Japanese L is closer to a US M for many buyers. Treat that as an orientation, not a rule: the reliable numbers are the 実寸 (actual measurements) Japanese sellers list in centimetres. Footwear is simpler — Japanese shoe sizes are stated directly in centimetres of foot length.

What does a SHIPS order from Japan cost?

The total is assembled from the components below and paid at two separate points. Most select-shop apparel is light and packs flat, so international shipping stays modest on shirts and knitwear and rises sharply on coats and shoes, where the box size does the damage. Buying several pieces and consolidating them into one parcel at our Japan warehouse lowers the per-item shipping cost.

Shipping from Japan to the USA: rates by weight →

How do I search SHIPS listings without getting unrelated results?

Add a house label or the special-make term to the brand name — シップス on its own also returns unrelated listings, because the word is not exclusive to the retailer. These are the words that narrow a search fastest.

• シップス — SHIPS in katakana
• シップスエニィ — SHIPS any, one of the house labels
• 別注 — special make commissioned by the retailer
• 新品未使用 / タグ付き — unused / tags attached
• 古着 — secondhand clothing, a large and well-indexed Japanese category