HUMAN MADE Is Acquiring UNDERCOVER in a Deal That Reunites Two Pillars of 1990s Ura-Harajuku
The non-binding agreement signed June 15 sets a September 2026 target for a binding share transfer contract, with UNDERCOVER set to become a HUMAN MADE consolidated subsidiary from Q1 FY2028.
HUMAN MADE Corporation has signed a basic agreement toward the 100% acquisition of Undercover Co., Ltd. on June 15. The agreement is non-binding at this stage, with a binding share transfer contract targeted for September 2026 and the transfer itself planned for February 2027. The deal connects two of Japanese fashion’s most consequential figures: NIGO, HUMAN MADE’s major shareholder and creative director, and Jun Takahashi, UNDERCOVER’s founder and representative director, whose friendship spans more than 30 years and whose shared history is inseparable from the story of contemporary Japanese street culture.
The acquisition sits within HUMAN MADE’s stated brand portfolio expansion strategy, which targets companies whose brand asset value is not fully reflected in profitability. HUMAN MADE’s purpose is “CULTIVATE CULTURE” — building the seeds of culture created by human inspiration and craftsmanship into creative industries representative of Japan. UNDERCOVER, which has spent more than 30 years establishing a unique position at the intersection of street and mode, is assessed by HUMAN MADE as highly compatible with that purpose. The two companies released a HUMAN MADE x UNDERCOVER collaboration in 2022, and HUMAN MADE confirms an existing commercial relationship. The acquisition price remains undetermined and will be set through independent third-party valuation in consultation with the counterparty.
The personal history between NIGO and Takahashi gives the transaction a cultural weight that corporate language does not fully capture. Both figures emerged as defining presences in 1990s Ura-Harajuku street culture, building labels — A Bathing Ape and UNDERCOVER respectively — that became global reference points before either had established distribution beyond Tokyo. In 1993, the two co-founded NOWHERE, a shop in Harajuku that became the symbolic center of what the press release calls the “Ura-Harajuku boom,” a movement that influenced the trajectory of street fashion globally and whose echoes are still visible in the way luxury houses and contemporary brands operate today. Takahashi subsequently took UNDERCOVER to the Paris collections, establishing himself as one of Japan’s most internationally recognized designers. NIGO’s own trajectory has run parallel: from Harajuku to Billionaire Boys Club to KENZO creative director to the founding of HUMAN MADE as a listed company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market.
