SINGAPORE – Japanese brand Beams is opening a one-year pop-up at New Bahru on April 28, effectively its first boutique in Singapore.

Even from a distance, the department store best known for its in-house clothing lines has paradoxically managed to corner both the cult and mass markets here. Fans know the brand’s 1976 Harajuku origins; casuals buy its T-shirts as souvenirs from Japan, where the chain operates 167 stores.

The launch has sent ripples of excitement through the fashion scene, while incidentally eclipsing the story of the lesser-known but earlier local success of its made-to-order arm, Custom Tailor Beams.

It concluded its third trunk show here in a year on March 29, a by-appointment event where clients are personally fitted for suits by Beams creative director Tatsuya Nakamura and expert fitter Tamao Shirai, who fly in from Japan.

Notably, the inaugural Singapore trunk show in March 2025 was the sub-brand’s first overseas, and local demand has been so keen that every edition has been fully booked.

Ten more orders were placed at the latest three-day run than the last, and there are plans to make the visits regular.

The strictures of the gentleman’s costume may seem at odds with the brand’s casual Americana catalogue – all striped tees and slouchy jeans – but, says Mr Nakamura, it makes up 20 per cent of total sales.