If you're obsessed with unique, conversation-starting streetwear, you probably already have some Kapital in your closet. The Japanese brand is legendary for its rebellious, avant-garde take on denim, blending traditional craftsmanship with a gritty, modern edge. Their patchwork designs, signature smiley faces, and distressed details are pure wearable art.
But when you want to expand your collection beyond Kapital, the world of Japanese streetwear has so much to offer. For those who love intricate details, impeccable quality, and pieces that truly stand out, here are 19 similar brands that deliver that same one-of-a-kind energy.
You can't talk about Japanese streetwear without mentioning BAPE. This iconic brand is famous for its bold camo patterns, shark hoodies, and instantly recognizable Ape Head logo. BAPE’s vibe is all about limited-edition drops, exclusive collaborations, and vibrant graphics that have defined street culture for decades.
While Kapital channels a more artisanal, vintage-inspired workwear look, BAPE leans into a louder, graphic-heavy aesthetic rooted in hip-hop and youth culture. If you love Kapital's cult status but crave something more colorful and logo-driven, BAPE is a must-have. Prices for signature hoodies and tees can range from $150 to over $400.
Shop now at bape.com
Neighborhood masterfully blends rugged motorcycle culture, military utility, and meticulous Japanese craftsmanship. Their collections are packed with durable denim, tactical jackets, and graphic tees that have a dark, industrial, and effortlessly cool feel. Think high-quality staples built to last a lifetime.
Both Neighborhood and Kapital share a deep appreciation for Americana and vintage garments, but they interpret them differently. While Kapital is known for its eccentric patchwork and deconstruction, Neighborhood sticks to a cleaner, more utilitarian-inspired aesthetic. It's the perfect choice when you want that rebellious spirit in a more understated, function-first package.
Shop now at neighborhood.jp
For those who see clothing as a true craft, Visvim is the holy grail. The brand is known for its obsession with creating future vintage, using natural dyes, traditional production methods, and the absolute best materials. Their collections include exquisitely handcrafted footwear, perfect-fit denim, and jackets inspired by global cultures and workwear.
Visvim is like Kapital’s more luxurious, minimalist older brother. While both brands are dedicated to quality, Visvim offers a more refined, earthy, and exceptionally high-end take on heritage style. With price points to match its quality, jeans start around $600 - Visvim is an investment for connoisseurs who appreciate unparalleled detail.
Shop now at visvim.tv
WTAPS (pronounced "double-taps") is rooted in military utilitarianism, creating pieces that feel both timeless and incredibly modern. Helmed by designer Tetsu Nishiyama, the brand excels at tactical jackets, crisp cargo pants, logo sweatshirts, and perfectly cut basics. The brand's philosophy is "placing things where they should be," which translates to thoughtfully designed, functional clothing.
Compared to Kapital’s bold and eclectic style, WTAPS offers a more disciplined and streamlined vision of streetwear. However, both brands share an unmistakable dedication to made-in-Japan quality and detail. If you appreciate the function and form of military surplus gear but want it elevated with a contemporary design sensibility, WTAPS is for you.
Shop now at wtaps.com
Emerging from Tokyo's vibrant skate scene, Evisen Skateboards brings a playful and artistic energy to streetwear. The brand is known for its samurai-inspired motifs, colorful graphics, and unique cut-and-sew pieces that go way beyond typical skate-brand fare. You'll find everything from wild-patterned jackets to high-quality skate decks and cozy fleece.
While Kapital finds its inspiration in vintage workwear and global textiles, Evisen pulls from traditional Japanese art and skate culture. It trades Kapital's homespun feel for witty graphics and bold colors, making it a great option if you want Japanese streetwear with a more youthful, fun, and laid-back attitude.
Shop now at evisen.jp
Facetasm is where Japanese street cool meets high-fashion experimentation. The brand plays with proportions, deconstruction, and layering, creating asymmetrical pieces, oversized silhouettes, and unexpected fabric combinations. It's avant-garde and complex but still deeply rooted in Tokyo's street style scene.
Both Facetasm and Kapital share a love for challenging clothing norms, but they come at it from different angles. Kapital reworks historical garments with folksy charm, while Facetasm takes a more conceptual, high-fashion approach. If you’re looking for progressive designs that belong on a runway as much as on the street, check out Facetasm.
Shop now at facetasm.com
Best known for his delightfully distorted and artfully "melted" sneakers, Mihara Yasuhiro creates clothing that is playful, deconstructed, and truly innovative. His brand blurs the lines between high fashion and streetwear, offering everything from warped military jackets to distressed, oversized knitwear and unique footwear designs.
Similar to Kapital, Mihara Yasuhiro has a knack for twisting familiar silhouettes into something completely new and unexpected. While Kapital is famous for its intricate embroidery and denim, Mihara is the master of subversion and surprise in footwear and avant-garde re-tailoring. It’s perfect for anyone who appreciates clothing with a clever, conceptual twist.
Shop now at miharayasuhiro.com
Led by the legendary Jun Takahashi, Undercover is a perfect storm of punk, chaos, and beauty. The brand is famous for its surreal graphics, high-concept collections, and pieces that feel both rebellious and deeply thoughtful. It artfully blends disparate elements - like fine tailoring with horror-movie imagery - to create something entirely new.
Undercover shares Kapital’s trailblazing, anti-fashion spirit but steers it in a darker, more punk-rock direction. While Kapital celebrates craft and folk art, Undercover explores themes of anarchy, subculture, and psychological tension. If you want streetwear with a powerful attitude and dark elegance, Undercover is your holy grail.
Shop now at undercoverism.com
Hysteric Glamour is a loud, unapologetic love letter to 1970s American pop culture, punk rock, and psychedelia. Since the ’80s, the brand has been celebrated for its bold graphic tees, distressed denim featuring cheeky patches, and vibrant knitwear. It's a brand that combines vintage vibes with a provocative, rock-and-roll edge.
Both Hysteric Glamour and Kapital are obsessed with vintage Americana, but their outputs are very different. Kapital gives old workwear a Japanese artisanal spin, while Hysteric Glamour channels the wild energy of album covers and pop art. If you love Kapital's denim but want shirts that scream attitude, this brand is for you.
Shop now at hystericglamour.jp
Named after The Beatles song "Revolution 9," Number (N)ine offers a moody, music-inspired take on menswear. The brand is known for its deconstructed tailoring, intricate graphic tees inspired by bands like Nirvana, and a rock-and-roll sensibility that feels both authentic and romantic. Think distressed fabrics, slim silhouettes, and a distinct air of vintage cool.
Like Kapital, Number (N)ine cherishes the beauty of worn-in, distressed clothing. However, its aesthetic vision is firmly rooted in the world of rock musicians - think Kurt Cobain meets goth style - while Kapital's universe is more about folksy, artisanal workwear. It delivers that signature Kapital distressing with a darker, melodic vibe.
Shop now at number-nine.jp
Mastermind Japan operates at the peak of luxury streetwear, known for its iconic skull and crossbones logo, impeccable material choices, and punk-infused aesthetic. The brand produces extremely high-quality pieces, often in limited quantities, using materials like cashmeres, silks, and the finest leathers. It’s dark, exclusive, and undeniably cool.
This brand is for someone who appreciates Kapital’s extreme attention to detail and quality but prefers a more opulent and logo-centric look. Mastermind trades Kapital's folk-art feel for a luxurious, gothic mono-brand that signifies you're in a very exclusive club willing to drop over $1000 for a hoodie. It offers a similar devotion to craftsmanship with a darker, more high-end identity.
Shop now at mastermindjapan.com
Operating a bit outside of the typical streetwear sphere, Japanese brand Harington creates versatile, well-made menswear based on universal classic garments. Focusing on materials from wool to high-density fabrics often associated with rainwear, it's known for its well-crafted wardrobe classics including over shirts, sweatshirts, and relaxed tailored pants.
While Kapital focuses on deconstruction and experimental design, Harington obsesses over perfecting timeless silhouettes. It swaps Kapital's wild unpredictability for consistency and impeccable fit, but it shares that core Japanese philosophy of making things the right way, no matter what. The company web presence is mostly in Japanese so be sure to turn on a browser translation service.
Shop now at haringtong.com
Also known as RVDDW, Reversal's brand concept of making clothing for mixed martial arts competitors in a fashionable sports/streetwear mix has kept it very popular in Japan's athletic combat circles. Their designs feel both futuristic and highly functional. The aesthetic combines traditional martial arts motifs with a clean, graphic style.
Compared to Kapital's organic, handmade feel, Reversal's vibe is slick, technical, and geared toward performance and function. However, by exploring and reworking elements of martial arts like kimono-style gis just like Kapital explores Boro and sashiko stitch detailing, both bring an authenticity that others do not explore for anyone whose lifestyle has athletic DNA mixed into it.
Shop now at rvddw.com
Cav Empt (C.E) is the brainchild of Sk8thing (the graphic genius behind BAPE) and Toby Feltwell, which explains why its graphics are some of the strongest out there. Known for a retro-futuristic and dystopian aesthetic, Cav Empt creates pieces with a vintage sci-fi, early internet vibe, often printed with social commentary on our society and its technology.
C.E is for the person who loves Kapital's ability to create a deep, immersive world but craves a more digital, postmodern theme. Instead of handcrafted fabrics that tell stories of the past, C.E's boldly printed sweats, parkas, and caps tell stories about our glitchy, overstimulated present. It’s thought-provoking streetwear for the chronically online era.
Shop now at cavempt.com
Wacko Maria is cool, flamboyant, and rebellious, blending rockabilly culture with a deep reverence for music, film, and art. The brand is famous for its impeccably crafted Hawaiian shirts printed with wild graphics that range from tattoo art to film noir stills. They also make amazing embroidered souvenir jackets and sharp tailoring with attitude, that would often include animal prints.
This brand takes Kapital’s love of vintage Americana and injects it with a shot of adrenaline and Latin flair. Where Kapital is rustic and artisanal, Wacko Maria is sleek, bold, and ready for a wild night out. This's the go-to for statement shirts and jackets that feel simultaneously retro and razor-sharp.
Shop now at wackomaria-paradisetokyo.jp
Y-3 is the iconic, long-running collaboration between master designer Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas. It represents the perfect fusion of avant-garde high fashion and technical sportswear. Known for its predominantly black palette, oversized silhouettes, and innovative fabric use, Y-3 creates futuristic sneakers, draped garments, and tracksuits that are anything but basic.
While Y-3 doesn't share Kapital's rustic, distressed look, it shares an essential quality: a refusal to conform to trends. Instead, Yamamoto's clothing creates its own unmistakable silhouette. If you appreciate the artful, boundary-pushing nature of Kapital's shapes but prefer a more minimalist and futuristic color scheme with all the comfort that Adidas is known for, the collections are a must-see in person where its beautiful subtlety can truly be revealed.
Shop now at theshopyohjiyamamoto.com
Punk Drunkers operates on its own chaotic, cartoonish wavelength. Famous for its bizarre characters, clashing colors, and parody-driven designs, brand head SATOMI designs with the slogan "Uncool is cool," mixing Japanese and Western punk sense of humor for graphic tees, novelty accessories, figurines, and jackets covered in surreal, humorous art.
It's for the person who finds joy in Kapital’s most eccentric pieces, such as a skeleton sleeve Century-Boro denim jacket or a goofy smiley face on jeans, but cranks up the playful silliness. Their focus is less on meticulous craft and heritage fabrics, and entirely on loud, graphic fun that refuses to take fashion too seriously, yet remains fashionable.
Shop now at punk-d.com
As a diffusion line of the ultra-luxe Mastermind Japan, Mastermind World offers a slightly more globally focused and relaxed take on the brand’s core aesthetic. You’ll still find the signature skull and crossbones logo, high-quality materials, and comfortable jogger sets, along with a focus on a predominantly relaxed unisex dark monochrome palette with pops of bright colors.
If the main Mastermind line is a bit intimidating pricewise, Mastermind World offers a slightly more approachable entry point. It bridges the gap nicely, delivering a rebellious edge with all the clout the logo promises, not unlike a bold Kapital jacket minus its folksy patchwork charm.
Shop now at mastermindtokyo.com
Part of the legendary Nepenthes family of brands, which also includes Engineered Garments and South 2 West8, designer Keizo Shimizu brings new life to vintage pieces by literally "Re-Building" them, often by patch-sewing parts of multiple vintage garments like plaid flannel shorts together into whole new pieces. They also make beautiful, often flamboyantly colorful tracksuit pieces featuring their iconic butterfly logo. It’s Americana seen through an eccentric, creative lens.
Perhaps more than any other brand on this list, Needles’ "Rebuild" line shares a direct ancestral link with Kapital’s sashiko-stitched, Boro century denim love for patchwork's uniqueness. Both brands find beauty in imperfection and giving new life to old items. If you're really looking for that unique, one-of-a-kind Kapital item feeling or love how the colorful butterfly print looks on their oversized flannel shirts, you will find much more to love in Re-Build by Needles.
Shop now at nepenthes.co.jp
At Apart Style, we're obsessed with curating the best in fashion, beauty, and jewelry to help you discover new brands we think you'll love. Every brand we feature is independently selected by our editorial team based on quality, style, and uniqueness. When you make a purchase through our links, Apart Style may earn a commission - which helps support our small team, and allows us to continue bringing you the best in online style brands.
Looking for more inspiration? Explore our full brand directory or check out our curated brand guides to find your new favorite thing.
