Supporting business professionals around the world, through shirts
Founded in Kamakura in 1993 as a shirt specialist, Kamakura Shirts has been dedicated to crafting truly exceptional shirts. Since our beginning, our mission has remained the same: to support business professionals around the world through shirts. To achieve this, we offer the highest quality at honest prices, together with attentive, thoughtful service.
Our commitment is to Made in Japan and to delivering shirts that meet global standards. In our stores across Japan, our sales staff work closely with each customer to ensure a satisfying shopping experience, because nothing matters more to us than seeing our customers confident, successful, and shining.
What began as a small shirt shop grew as customers asked for trousers, jackets, and suits to pair with our shirts. Drawing on decades of shirtmaking expertise, we now offer these items as well, all made in Japan, at quality and prices you can trust. With shirts at the core, we propose a complete business wardrobe.
More than 30 years on, Kamakura Shirts is embraced by customers around the world, from New York to Shanghai and beyond. From Kamakura to the world, we remain committed to evolving our craftsmanship and service, always in support of business professionals everywhere.
The highest quality shirts, at honest prices
A shirt is the most essential piece of style. Since our founding, we have remained committed to Japanese production at every stage, from fabric and yarn to sewing, crafting each shirt stitch by stitch with care and pride, meeting all the standards of a truly premium shirt.
We use carefully selected materials, fine fabrics woven from 80s two-ply yarn or higher, and natural shell buttons such as Takase or mother-of-pearl, prized for their ease of use and subtle luster. Combined with precisely engineered patterns and Japan’s world-class sewing techniques, fine stitching, flat-felled seams, narrow rolled hems, and 21 stitches per 3 cm, our shirts offer exceptional comfort, fit, and freedom of movement. You’ll feel the difference the moment you put one on.
The name Makers’ Shirt Kamakura reflects our philosophy: delivering freshly made shirts directly from our factories to our stores. By working directly with sewing factories and material suppliers and eliminating middlemen, we invest more into craftsmanship—allowing us to offer the highest quality at fair prices. We don’t hold sales, because our prices are fair from the start.
We promise that our Made in Japan, world-standard shirts will bring confidence and refinement to both business and everyday life.
→ About Kamakura Shirts’ craftsmanship
HOSPITALITY
Specialists in service
As professionals dedicated to shirts, our sales specialists bring deep product knowledge, advanced measuring skills, and thoughtful styling advice. Above all, they focus on delivering service that truly satisfies the customer.
“Don’t just sell shirts—provide service.” This is a message our founder, Yoshio Sadasue, has always shared with our staff. Quality speaks for itself; what matters on the shop floor is sincere, customer-focused service. This philosophy is rooted in the merchant’s way passed down from his father: business exists only when customers are genuinely pleased.
Alongside our wide range of ready-to-wear shirts, demand for custom shirts and suits continues to grow. Our sales specialists refine their fitting skills every day to meet these needs. Exceptional products, expert craftsmanship, and personal, attentive service—together, these create moments of true satisfaction and delight. We welcome each customer with both visible and invisible hospitality.
HERITAGE
A legacy carried forward
Kamakura Shirts began on November 7, 1993, in a small shop on the second floor of a convenience store in Kamakura. Founder Yoshio Sadasue oversaw production, while his wife Tamiko welcomed customers—starting the brand as a true family endeavor.
At 53, Yoshio decided to start the business after being inspired by the late Kensuke Ishizu, founder of VAN Jacket, who once asked, “Is there no one to carry on my wish to make Japanese men stylish?” The Sadasues, both former VAN Jacket employees, answered that call through shirts—especially the button-down, the symbol of Ivy style. Their dream was to one day be recognized in New York, the home of Ivy style and a global center of men’s business wear.
That dream came true in 2012 with the opening of Kamakura Shirts on Madison Avenue. Though the store closed at the end of 2020 due to COVID-19, it was supported by New Yorkers for eight years. Leadership then passed to their eldest daughter, Nanako Sadasue, who vowed to return. In 2024, Kamakura Shirts reentered New York with a fully appointment-based order salon, designed for the modern era.
The spirit of Ivy style and the button-down shirt—this is the heritage we proudly carry forward.
TO THE WORLD
From Kamakura to the world
Kamakura, the birthplace of our brand, is also the hometown of Tamiko Sadasue, co-founder of Kamakura Shirts, and of our current CEO, Nanako Sadasue. The name “Kamakura Shirts” reflects Tamiko’s deep affection for the place where the brand was born and nurtured.
“Kamakura Shirts was born in Kamakura, and Kamakura raised us. We will continue to create refined, high-quality shirts under the name of Kamakura.” Guided by this belief, we work closely with the local community and actively engage in initiatives rooted in Kamakura, striving to give back to the place that shaped us.
At the same time, we continue to build Kamakura Shirts as a global brand. We believe that being firmly rooted locally is what enables true global reach. Alongside our directly operated stores in New York and Shanghai, our shirts are carried by select retailers across Europe and Asia, earning high praise for their Made in Japan quality.
From Kamakura to the world, we pursue the heights of a truly global shirt brand—supporting business professionals everywhere, through shirts.