MARUI One International, RIP: Japanese Fashion Web Shop Shuts Down

Posted on 8 Aug. 2011
in: Tokyo Fashion News

Ever since the world economy entered a major slump back in 2008, the Japanese fashion industry – like fashion industries in other countries – has been feeling the repercussions. Several Japanese brands have shut down in the last few years, and Tokyo has certainly seen its fair share of store closures. The latest casualty isn’t a physical store, but a well-known international web shop based in Tokyo. Last week, MARUI Web Channel (previously known as MARUI One) official closed down their international operations.

Marui One Web Channel International

Launched back in 2007 (a year before the world economic crash) MARUI One International made a big splash by offering authentic fashion from numerous Japanese fashion brands not previously available online overseas. The roster of brands that MARUI carried over the nearly four years the site was active included 6%DOKIDOKI, Angelic Pretty, Super Lovers, Sexy Dynamite London, Black Peace Now, H Naoto, Algonquins, and many more.

MARUI One was best known for their Gothic and Lolita brands (largely because of their association with Kera Magazine and appearances at various international gothic-friendly events), but they also carried many mainstream Shibuya 109 and girly street fashion brands. Some of the popular non-gothic brands included Snidel, Jayro, Liz Lisa, Alba Rosa, Murua, Smacky Glam, Apuweiser-Riche, and LipStar.

Though we’re sad to see MARUI’s international web store close, we realize that the internet has changed a lot since 2007. Most – or perhaps all – of the Japanese fashion brands that MARUI One carried are now available internationally through other sources. Rakuten has been rapidly increasing the selection of Japanese fashion at their international web shop. They – along with various independent stores – will fill the hole left by MARUI’s closure.

Also, please be aware that MARUI is only closing their international online shop. Their Japanese business operations remain in tact. This means you can still buy all of the same Japanese fashion brands from MARUI. You just have to fly to Japan and visit their department stores in Shinjuku or other areas of Tokyo to do so!

In remembrance of MARUI One International (1997-2011, RIP), here are a few screen captures of their website from better days.

 

The official MARUI Web Channel website will go offline on August 31, 2011.

Tags: , , , , ,
Brands:

Comments are closed.

7 Comments

  1. Soraja

    Noooo!!! Is there another international website like this we can buy from now?

  2. lisai

    It’s sad to see so many stores go out of business. But at least some brands like 6%DOKIDOKI and h.naoto are opening pop up shops overseas.

    @Soraja: Try Yesasia.com. They carry some great brands from Japan, Korea, and China/Taiwan.

  4. Em

    you can try the website ‘yesstyle’ It’s asian fashion. :3

  5. Gala

    it’s really sad! Marui is my favourite online store. And i can’t find similar sites like maruione. Most of stores don’t ship their products internationally. For example fashionwalker or slylife work just through forward-centers. it’s so uncomfortable! Yesstyle and yesasia offer more korean and chinese brands and you’ll never find there japanese brands like on maruione.

    “Rakuten has been rapidly increasing the selection of Japanese fashion at their international web shop. They – along with various independent stores – will fill the hole left by MARUI’s closure”.

    Rakuten is really uncomfortable for shopping! It’s absolutely a mass of shops and goods and i just can’t use it.
    Somebody please tell me about these “various independent stores”.

  6. Jaychra

    Oh I’ve just stumbled upon this now, it’s so sad :( MaruiOne has been the most professional (english) online outlet to use, I really miss the gothic friendly fashion from my trip to Japan.

    Above comment is true about rakuten, and most of what we can do at the moment is shop directly from the brands we like (if they’re available online) and pay the hefty shipping. Otherwise it’s down to meticulously searching blogs or livejournal accounts to sell or trade the right styles.

    So so sad. MaruiOne was a very good thing.

  7. Sarah

    I used to b the resident translator at Marui actually… The yen was too strong against currency in English speaking countries in the end to b able to support a separate international site tho.

    If you’re looking for good places to buy Asian fashion tho, try some of the popular sites below and click on the flag for your language.

    http://stylenanda.com
    http://cherry-spoon.com
    http://wingsmall.co.kr/

    also google shopping offers quite a bit of Asian fashion b/c the image requirements match with Asian style photography better than places like Amazon etc where Asian companies would have to heavily photoshop their pics to get them approved to list.

    FYI the actual online Shinjuku Maruione shop still exists at http://voi.0101.co.jp/voi/maruione/index.jsp
    but it’s Japanese only and they don’t ship internationally as far as I know ^^
    but if you’re REALLY set on it, you can use a forwarding service like tenso.com to get a Japanese address to have your item forwarded from.

    Happy shopping!

Possibly Related Articles...