HUMAN MADE Inc., the Tokyo streetwear brand listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Growth market, disclosed on September 14, 2026 that its board had resolved three days earlier to buy full control of the company that runs UNDERCOVER, the designer label known for blending street style with high fashion. The two companies signed a share-transfer agreement the same day, September 11, with HUMAN MADE paying ¥538.8mn in cash for 100% of the voting shares. The transaction is structured as an all-cash purchase of shares rather than a stock swap, and HUMAN MADE expects the deal to close in February 2027, not immediately.
The rationale, laid out in HUMAN MADE's half-year securities report, ties directly to its stated purpose of "CULTIVATE CULTURE": the company says it wants to buy brands whose value has not yet been fully converted into profit and grow them into a second and third pillar alongside HUMAN MADE itself. UNDERCOVER has operated for more than three decades and, according to the filing, holds broad international recognition; the two companies collaborated on a joint collection in 2025. The filing also notes that UNDERCOVER's representative director has known NIGO, a major shareholder in HUMAN MADE and its creative director, for more than 30 years, tracing back to the Ura-Harajuku street scene of the 1990s.
Several numbers in the deal remain open. Advisory costs are estimated at roughly ¥16.0mn, but the resulting goodwill, and the specific assets and liabilities HUMAN MADE will take on at closing, are not yet determined, the company said. Separately, the same half-year report shows HUMAN MADE's own interim revenue at ¥8.76bn for the six months to July 2026, filed under the periodic disclosure obligations the company follows each half-year.