Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building on the first basement floor, in the men's underwear section, there's a brand that achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the top-selling item just six months after arriving in February of this year. That brand is CHICKSTOCKS. It all started with a casual conversation between brand manager Tatsuhiko Maeda and his colleagues in the office: "What brand of socks do you wear?"

View CHICSTOCKS products on the Isetan Online Store.

Maeda: "Come to think of it, there aren't any brands that we can really call ourselves, are there? So we thought, why not try making our own? It was a pretty casual idea. But even back then, we had the belief that we wanted to make high-quality socks that were comfortable, functional, and available in sizes that fit Japanese people at an affordable price."

When we finally decided to get started, we realized that even though our design firm primarily focused on commercial design for bags and apparel, we had absolutely no experience with sock making. Even less did we know where to find good quality socks.

Tatsuhiko Maeda, Brand Manager at CHICKSTOCKS

Maeda : "Then, when I happened to go back to my parents' house, I mentioned to my family that I was thinking of starting a sock brand, and my father told me that our hometown is one of the leading sock production areas."

Maeda's hometown is Nara Prefecture. He had no idea that his birthplace was a mecca for socks, boasting the top market share. In fact, Nara Prefecture is a major production area for socks, accounting for an estimated 60% of the domestic market share. From there, the story progressed rapidly, CHICSTOCKS began to take shape.

The coexistence of design and functionality that will excite the next buyer.