Nippori Fabric Town: Tokyo's Textile District

Nippori Fabric Town goes back to the Taisho era (roughly 1912 to 1926), when remnant fabric dealers set up in Asakusa. These were はぎれ問屋, wholesalers who dealt in off-cuts and end bolts and sold to vendors from the provinces who couldn't afford full rolls. When the Second World War reshaped Tokyo, many of them moved to the area around Nippori Station and gathered along what became the main Chuo Dori strip.

The post-war decades gave the district its structure. The Tokyo Fentsu Cooperative was founded in 1948; fentsu is the Japanese version of "fents," the English textile trade word for remnant pieces. Eight years later, wool and lining wholesalers in Arakawa formed an association of their own. In 1969 the two merged into the Tokyo Nippori Textile Wholesale Cooperative, which still holds the district together. The merger put on paper what had grown up by itself over two decades, a dense trade district that ran itself and had its own identity.

For most of the Showa period, which lasted until 1989, Nippori was somewhere professionals went. The assumed customer was a shop buyer, a small production house or a retailer from the provinces. Retail shoppers weren't turned away, but nobody was courting them either. Then home sewing, cosplay and independent fashion took off, and it made obvious business sense to sell to anyone who walked in. The change was slow, and by the time it was done hardly anyone had noticed, because the prices and the selection stayed exactly the same.

Two useful lines stop at Nippori Station: the JR Yamanote Line, which loops around central Tokyo, and the Keisei Line, which runs straight to Narita Airport. Either way, use the South Exit, three minutes' walk from the start of the main fabric strip. Yellow signs mark the district boundary, and the street runs south from the station through Higashi-Nippori. A kilometre goes by fast on foot, even with all the stopping to look you'll inevitably do.

Most shops open 10:00 to 18:00. Sunday is the day to watch. Because the district grew up on a trade week, Sunday is still a day off for most shops, and roughly 80 percent close. Saturday is a safe bet. On a Sunday, confirm the specific shops you want before you go. Some shops also close on Thursdays, an older rotation from before the district looked the way it does now. Tuesday through Saturday gets you the widest choice and the fewest shutters down.

This matters if you're pairing Nippori with Yanaka, and we think you should. Yanaka Ginza, the old shopping street a short walk from the same station, closes many of its shops on Mondays. Go on a Wednesday or Thursday and you avoid both closing days.

Start at Tomato. You may not spend most of your money there, but it's the best way to get a sense of what the district has.

Tomato is several purpose-built buildings spread along the main strip, each covering a different part of the fabric and craft supply chain. The Main Building has five floors sorted by fabric type, with basics and general cottons lower down and specialty and imported fabrics higher up. One floor has a 100 yen per metre section for the budget end, but frankly the rest of the building is only 20 to 30 percent pricier than similar stock at other Nippori shops, so by Tokyo standards the whole store is cheap. The Tomato Interior Building has upholstery, curtain fabric and home decor materials. The Notion Building has everything else: zippers, buttons, thread, elastic, interfacing, sewing machine needles and all the other small hardware that goes into making clothes.

Tomato has been in Nippori for over 40 years. It has an online shop and a section stocked specifically for cosplay and costume making, and on sale Saturdays the checkout lines can take more than an hour. If Tomato is the main reason you're coming, go on a weekday morning before 11:00, when you can actually look at things without jostling at the remnant bins.

The remnants (はぎれ in Japanese) are what many experienced visitors come for, and first-timers often walk right past them.

Every shop in the district ends up with end bolts, the last metre or two on a roll after the main stock sells. These go into bins at big discounts, usually ¥100 to ¥500 a piece, for fabric that would cost several times more per metre off the main roll. What's in them is completely random and changes daily. On a Tuesday a bin might hold the end of a bolt of silk crepe, three pieces of Japanese cotton in a geometric print and half a metre of deep burgundy theatrical stretch. By Thursday it's all different.

Experienced home sewers go to the remnants first and treat the main shelves as backup. Most home projects only need a small amount of good fabric, enough for a blouse, a child's dress, a cushion cover or a costume accessory. When ¥200 buys a remnant big enough for a blouse, you can see why people make the trip. Get there early, before other shoppers have been through the bins, and be patient.

Cosplayers have shopped in Nippori Fabric Town for decades, and the district has adjusted to them. Tomato's cosplay section is stocked for costume making: stretch fabrics, theatrical materials, faux leather, laminates, and the particular synthetics costume makers need to reproduce anime and game characters accurately. Okuyama, a smaller specialist shop on the main strip, goes further and makes order-made cosplay costumes and stage uniforms as well as selling materials.

What cosplayers can't easily find elsewhere in Tokyo is this much quantity and variety in stretch and theatrical fabrics. General fabric shops carry the basics. Nippori has the whole range of specialty synthetics, from holographic fabric and glitter mesh to sculpted spandex and metallic lamé, at prices that make building several costumes affordable. A cosplayer with twenty years of experience made a shopping map of the district that gets passed around the community, which gives you an idea of how seriously cosplayers take Nippori as a place to source materials.

Home sewers mostly come for Japanese cotton prints, and the selection here is the biggest in Tokyo. There are traditional patterns (sakura, cranes, geometric family crests, indigo-dyed motifs) next to the cheerful, design-led modern prints Japanese sewers like. Cotton prints run from about ¥380 to ¥800 per metre, with the cheaper end at Tomato and the specialist cotton shops. There's plenty of quilting fabric, batting, and supplies for Japanese patchwork. If you make children's clothes, or sew seriously at home the way many Japanese families have for generations, start here.

Fashion students and small production designers come for volume and professional prices. Bunka Fashion College and other design schools routinely send students here, since it's the usual place to buy for small-batch production and student projects that need real yardage at real prices. Nagato has a building just for wool, with coat-weight and suiting fabrics for people working at that end. Several shops carry silk, linen and European imports. For serious garment making at professional prices you can actually afford, nothing in Tokyo matches it.

Several shops here sell mainly or only notions. If you're making clothes and not just buying material, they matter as much as the fabric sellers. Yamayo, a two-room shop near the start of the strip, is a good early stop for patterns, buttons, zippers and basic supplies. The notion shops carry professional sewing hardware at professional prices: European zipper brands, Japanese thread in every weight, interfacing by the metre, and the buckles and D-rings costume makers need.

At least one shop offers custom fabric printing, so you can have your own design put onto fabric. It's aimed at small production runs, but individuals can use it too.

Nippori Station is where most people start for Yanaka, Tokyo's best-preserved pre-war neighbourhood, and the two make an easy half-day in east Tokyo. The fabric district runs south from the station and Yanaka runs north and west. In Nippori you're browsing with a purpose; in Yanaka you wander old streets and past temple cemeteries, and the change of pace is what makes the pairing good. Give Nippori three to four hours if fabric is why you came, then spend an hour or two in Yanaka's lanes. If you still have energy, Ueno and its museums are one stop south on the Yamanote Line.

For a full day in east Tokyo built around these neighbourhoods, Infinite Tokyo lets you put together a custom itinerary that strings together the fabric district, Yanaka's old streets and whatever else you're interested in.

The JR Yamanote Line and the Keisei Line both serve Nippori Station. From the South Exit the main fabric strip starts within three minutes on foot, marked by yellow district signs. Most shops are open 10:00 to 18:00. On Sundays most of the district is shut, and on Saturdays it's open but busy. Tuesday through Friday is the most comfortable time, when everything is open and it's quiet. Bring cash, since most shops take it and card acceptance is patchy. Bring a bag too: fabric bought by the metre gets heavy, and the bags the shops give you are fine but small.

Allow about two hours for Tomato plus two or three other shops, and half a day if you want to cover the whole strip. The remnant bins take time to go through properly.

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Do I need to be a professional to shop at Nippori Fabric Town?

No. The district was mostly trade-only in its wholesale days, but retail customers have been welcome for decades. There's no minimum purchase, you don't need trade credentials, and professionals and everyone else pay the same prices. If you want one metre of fabric, you can buy one metre.

Is Nippori Fabric Town open on Sundays?

Mostly not. Sunday is the traditional day off for most of the district, and roughly 80 percent of shops close. Saturday is the better choice on a weekend; everything is open, just busier. If Sunday is your only option, check the shop-by-shop holiday calendar on the Nippori Fabric Town official site before you go.

What's the best time to arrive for remnant bins?

Early. Customers pick through the remnants (end bolts and off-cuts at ¥100 to ¥500 a piece) all day. If you arrive within 30 minutes of the 10:00 opening, you see the best of it before anyone else has been through the bins. The stock changes daily, so there's no knowing what you'll find, but early gives you the most to choose from.

What do cosplayers specifically buy here that they can't get elsewhere in Tokyo?

Specialty theatrical stretch fabrics: holographic materials, laminates, metallic fabrics, sculpted spandex, and faux leather in the weights and finishes that accurate costumes need. General fabric shops in Tokyo have basic stretch fabric but not the full theatrical range. Tomato's cosplay section is stocked for costume makers, and Okuyama makes order-made cosplay costumes as well as selling materials. That mix of selection and price brings cosplayers here and not to the fabric shops in Harajuku or Shibuya.

Can I combine Nippori Fabric Town with Yanaka in one visit?

Yes, and most people do. Nippori Station serves both, with the fabric district to the south and Yanaka to the north and west. Tuesday through Saturday works best for both, since Yanaka Ginza closes many shops on Mondays and the fabric district closes on Sundays. Give the fabric district three to four hours if fabric is the main point, then spend an hour or two in Yanaka's lanes and cemetery paths, and finish at Ueno if there's time.