FAQ | About Us | Gift Certificates | Street Style
Check out our FAQs below. These are actual questions we get both in-store and by email fairly often, so see if your question is answered below! This list will be updated as we get new questions. If you think we’re missing anything, please email us and let us know!
Store FAQs
Fashion/Brand FAQs
Miscellaneous FAQs
Q: What is Tokyo Rebel?
A: We’re a US-based store that sells popular Japanese street fashion styles including rock, punk, gothic and Lolita. We sell the real brands, not the knockoffs you might regularly see on Ebay. See the “Fashion FAQs” section of the FAQ for more info on Japanese and Harajuku street fashion.
Q: What is your store concept?
A: We’re modeled on a Japanese “select shop” that are popular in Tokyo and other Japanese cities, who pick and choose the best clothes from a variety of popular brands and styles. Our store name refers to Tokyo because that’s the epicenter of this kind of fashion.
Q: Why sell Japanese clothes in the US?
A: Because they’re a lot cooler and more imaginative than anything most American brands currently produce.
Q: Why should I buy from you and not from another store?
A: First, because we strive to provide customer service that's second to none, from quick replies to inquiries to better packaging than our competitors to a personalized effort to solve any potential problems that may crop up. You're not going to find a more professionally-run and customer-centric store selling this kind of fashion.
We also pride ourselves on being forthright and honest in everything we do, which is unfortunately not something that all of our competitors can say. Just read through our blog, our FAQ and the rest of our site and you'll see how up front we are about everything we do. Some stores - especially "storefronts" you might find on auction sites - claim to sell Japanese street fashion but in fact sell off-brand, low-quality knock-off items that copy Japanese designs.
Moreover, while we don't know how you first heard of us, we've built up a pretty large following online - more than 4,000 Facebook likes, tens of thousands of site hits per day, and thousands of satisfied customers. We did that through hard work, experience in both retail and online production and marketing. We've taken our own original ideas and combined that with that experience and hard work to create something that we think is really special. Not everybody who sells this kind of fashion can say that.
With us, what you see is what you get. We're a small company made up of people just like you.
Q: Do you ship overseas?
A: Yes, though the shipping costs are obviously a bit higher and you are responsible for any and all potential customs fees. Also, since not every country supports the AVS security standard, if we see anything suspicious about your order, we may require you to fax us additional verification before shipping.
Q: What are your shipping costs?
A: See our policies page for shipping rate tables.
Q: Do you do special orders?
A: Yes, though see our policies page for the process and caveats.
Q: I live overseas. Can you mark down the value on the customs form for me? Or mark the package a gift?
A: No, we cannot, as it is illegal for us to do so. Some people will do this, but they are taking a risk, and we cannot take that risk as getting caught could directly affect our ability to stay in business.
Q: Are your items in stock or do you need to order them from Japan? How fast will I receive my order?
A: We will specify in no uncertain terms if an item is not actually in stock. Most out of stock items will display an “OUT OF STOCK” message on the item page and you will not be able to add them to your cart. (This is because we are never sure if we can restock an item until we’re very close to actually receiving it again.) The only out of stock items you will be able to add to your cart are reserve items, items specifically marked as special order items, and sold out items that we’re sure to have back in stock shortly. In the last case, we specify in the item description when the items are expected in stock.
In all other cases, our items are kept in stock in New York and should ship within 1-2 business days.
Q: What is your return policy?
A: We have a 14 day defective exchange policy. If there is a problem with the manufacture of your item, we will take it back for replacement or store credit within 14 days. We cannot take back items for sizing issues, the reason being that unlike a store selling American brands, we cannot send clothes back to the manufacturer for credit. The Japanese manufacturers will not accept returns from us, so we unfortunately can only accept returns if your item is defective. This should be exceedingly rare, as we personally check every single garment we receive from each manufacturer as soon as we get it for just this reason.
Q: Do you have a physical store or only a web store?
A: We have a physical store at 170 Avenue B in New York City. Click here for details.
Q: How big is your store?
A: While our store is actually bigger than most Japanese select shops, we are a boutique. Again, while we hope Japanese street fashion gains in popularity over the years, we don’t believe that a large store – even in New York City – would be sustainable at this time. It’s going to take time to grow.
Some people visit us expecting to see Macy’s. There’s no such thing for Japanese street fashion, not even in Japan. The fabled brand stores you might hear about in Laforet or Marui One (which are just malls) are all individual stores, and they are all about half the square footage of our store. This is by definition alternative fashion, even in Japan. Set your expectations accordingly.
Q: What brands do you carry?
A: We are fully authorized retailers for Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, Alice and the Pirates, SEX POT ReVeNGe, ALGONQUINS, Atelier-Pierrot, Victorian maiden, Putumayo, Innocent World, Hellcat Punks, SUPER LOVERS, Morrigan New York and Maxicimam. We carry the most brands - and the most popular brands - of any Japanese street fashion store in the United States.
Q: Do you ever run sales?
A: We do have a continuously running and updated sale section on our web site, and we occasionally run special sales. We probably do it less often than other stores, though. Our inventory usually doesn't stay in stock long enough.
Q: Do you buy used clothes?
A: We currently are not buying used clothes.
Q: How do you price your items?
A: We try to stay as close to the Japanese price at the current exchange rate as possible. However, realize that there is more to importing clothes from another country than just the exchange rate. We need to recover all of our costs, plus have some left over for profit, or there'd be no point for us to be in business.
Please note that we do not negotiate prices, either in our store or online. The marked price is the price. By asking us to negotiate prices, you are asking us to take money out of our pocket. If you don't want to pay the marked price for an item, somebody else will. There's no shortage of demand.
Q: What is the five item rule in your fitting area, and why do you have it?
A: Almost all of the clothes we stock are limited or even one-offs (with the exception of some of our punk clothes), and even if we could replace them, it can take weeks to do so. So we have to set a limit on the total number of items you can try on at our store, so that they remain in new condition until they're sold. We ask that you pick out your very favorite clothes that you're considering buying, and then ask us to try those on.
Prior to instituting this rule, we actually would get quite a few people who would try on practically everything in the store just because they could (and then not buy anything). We can't make a determination about whether or not somebody is seriously considering a purchase or just having fun by trying on cute clothes that they don't own, so we had to make a rule that applies to everyone equally.
Q: Do you take Victorian maiden reserves?
A: Yes we do. We are fully authorized to do so through our web site and in store.
Q: Do you take Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates reserves?
A: Yes we do. Again, we are fully authorized to do so, although the process differs from VM (please read the reserve page carefully).
Q: What does it mean when someone says they only buy “brand”?
A: “Brand” just means one of the major acknowledged brands of Japanese street fashion. It’s the same as saying you buy “name brand” when referring to other products, as opposed to no-name or off-brand items.
Q: Who determines what’s “brand” and what isn’t? Is Bodyline or Milanoo “brand”?
A: In terms of Lolita, there at one point was an actual Gothic & Lolita Association including all of the major Japanese Lolita brands you know (and some you probably don’t). No, this does not include Bodyline or Milanoo. This is really where the term “brand” comes from – the former association brands collectively represented the fashion and made decisions on where it was headed. A list of brands that were part of the Gothic & Lolita Association can still be found on the Japanese Gothic Lolita Wikipedia page. This association has since been dissolved, although the brands still cooperate with each other to promote the fashion.
Q: You mean they don't compete?
A: To some extent they do, but most brands get along because there's only really style overlap among a few brands anyway. They often have joint events, for example, they share models, and some brand stores sell other brands' clothes. They all adhere to similar production standards because to do otherwise would be to ruin the reputation of the fashion as a whole, and would lead to their being ostracized from the industry. There's a spirit of "we're all in this together", and they realize that promoting the fashion in general is more important than putting their competitors out of business. Some brands get along better than others, but generally that's the way it is. To some degree, this is just the Japanese way of conducting business - cooperation rather than confrontation.
Q: Why does it seem like San Francisco gets so much attention from Japanese brands, while the east coast only has you guys?
A: San Francisco is a great city (one of us used to live there!) but it is 1/10 the size of New York, and even its Japanese population is much smaller. New York is one of the fashion centers of the world, and hell, punk fashion began here with the Ramones and the 1970's punk scene on the Lower East Side (where we are!). Logically, you would expect alternative Japanese fashion to have some fans here, and our experience is that it does. That said, we'd love for brand stores to be open in every US state, to help promote the fashion.
A lot of it is probably due to familiarity, as the west coast is a shorter flight and most Japanese brands visit there more regularly.
Q: How realistic/accurate is the movie and book Kamikaze Girls (aka Shimotsuma Monogitari)? Is the actress who played Momoko really a Lolita?
A: A lot of western Lolitas got their start in the fashion through this movie/book, and it really did a lot for the industry in Japan too. It was created with the full cooperation of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and with a lot of attention to detail, so it is very accurate in its depiction of the fashion at that time. Bear in mind that a few years have now passed and Lolita fashion isn't static, so some of the styles you see in the movie already look a little dated today. But it's still an essential title for anybody new to the fashion.
No, Kyoko Fukada is most definitely not a real-life Lolita, although she does play one in the movie very convincingly (and she won an award for it).
Q: Are “Gothic”, “Lolita” and “Gothic Lolita” the same thing?
A: No. These are all different fashion styles, although they're related. “Gothic Lolita” is a sub-genre of Lolita, which includes many different styles. Just plain “Gothic” is something else entirely, and older than “Gothic Lolita”. Gothic fashion in Japan grew from the same roots as Gothic fashion in the west – bands like Bauhaus, Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees, with later home-grown additions like Malice Mizer. As Lolita was growing as a separate movement, Atelier Boz and Atelier-Pierrot began blending the two together, making dark versions of Lolita clothing. This became known as “Gothic Lolita”, a term coined by musician Mana of Malice Mizer and later Moi dix Mois. It's a misconception that he "invented" Gothic Lolita - the two aforementioned brands did it first. But he helped popularize the style and the name after he saw it.
Magazines like “Gothic & Lolita Bible” and “Gothic & Lolita Ensemble” continue to separate the two words with an “&” because they are still distinct styles that they feature. Not everything you see in these magazines is Lolita – some of it is “pure” old-school Gothic. They feature “Gothic and Lolita”, not necessarily mixed together.
Q: How about a rundown of the concepts behind the brands you sell?
A: Ok, here goes:
Baby, the Stars Shine Bright - sweet Lolita for girls who want to be an elegant princess
Alice and the Pirates - originally "pirate Lolita", now closer to gothic but with sweet elements
SEX POT ReVeNGe – hardcore punk for men and women
Algonquins – cute and dark punk for girls
Atelier-Pierrot – traditional elegant gothic Lolita (EGL)
Victorian maiden – classic Lolita with a focus on adult women
PUTUMAYO – punk Lolita with a "poisonous atmosphere" (their words!)
MAXICIMAM – sweet and punk Lolita with an edge
Innocent World – traditional classic Lolita
Hellcat Punks - cute punk for girls
SUPER LOVERS - pop, punk and Lolita thrown in a glorious blender, focusing on setting trends
Morrigan - Victorian and Lolita-inspired clothing with classic elements
Q: Why are some of these brands priced so high?
A: You are paying for both quality and design. A lot of people will only consider things like weight or thread count or stitching, but quality is not all that you’re paying for. Somebody designed that t-shirt or that dress or that hair accessory, and their services are not free. In fact, at many Japanese brands, the designers are the top earners at the company and are famous in their own right – and it's their designs that actually sell the clothes. The design of these clothes is basically the entire reason we are selling them (it would be easier to sell American clothes), so at least a little bit of a premium is worth it.
Q: Why don't you sell replicas? I can't afford brand!
A: You may as well ask Nordstrom why they don't sell the cheap knockoff Coach bags you can buy on Canal Street. It's just not our business and we don't support it. It's almost heartbreaking when you talk to one of the brand designers about replicas; they spend up to six months working on a design, and then somebody goes and steals it and undercuts their price by 80%? It's not right.
Save your money and buy the real thing. Even if you don't buy it from us.
Q: Why don’t you sell more mens’ clothing?
A: We actually carry quite a bit of clothing intended for use by both men and women from SEX POT ReVeNGe. Except for obvious things like one-piece dresses, skirts and bare-shoulder shirts, most of their clothing is unisex, both in look and size.
Most other brands in Harajuku just do not produce mens’ clothing. We’d carry more if they did.
Most of the clothing you see visual kei bands or other popular guys wearing in Japan is custom. There are a few exceptions, like X-Japan with h.Naoto (though most of their clothes are custom made too, by h.Naoto), although not every brand has a business strategy that meshes with ours so we can't automatically stock them.
Q: I bought something from you, now how do I clean it?
A: Check the tag and follow its instructions. Here is a guide to Japanese clothing care symbols.
Q: Why don’t you sell clothes from (insert Japanese brand name here)?
A: Every brand you don’t see here is missing for its own unique reason. You can be assured that we are at least aware of every established brand operating in Harajuku. For obvious reasons, we can’t tell you everything that goes on behind the scenes between us and the various brands.
Q: I’m a designer – will you sell my Japanese-inspired clothes?
A: Please understand that this is not a judgment on your quality as a designer – but the answer is probably no. It's just harder to sell them, and we don't have the resources to put into promoting independent designers. We are currently testing the waters with some western designers, but we're picking and choosing based on what brands we know and like and think would complement our other products. We do not generally respond to unsolicited requests from designers.
Q: Do you sell cosplay costumes?
A: No. All of our clothes are designed for everyday wear. They are high quality garments.
Q: I found stuff that looks just like what you sell for about half the price somewhere else. Why wouldn’t I just buy from them?
A: Because you found one of three things: a) replicas, b) cosplay costumes, or c) a scam site. Replicas and cosplay costumes are likely to be lower quality than the real thing, and won’t last. Replicas are counterfeits and, depending on the similarity to the original, may even be a form of trademark infringement (considered bootleg merchandise). Cosplay costumes in particular also look ridiculous when worn outside of a dress-up setting – it’s really obvious that they’re not real clothes just based on the material and poor fit. As for scam sites, you really need to be careful that you’re not dealing with somebody who will take your money and run. If you see “brand” items advertised for well below what you see elsewhere, that is a scam site.
There is always a lot of talk in the Lolita community, especially, about various overseas off-brands, many of which are very cheap. However, you generally get what you pay for. Our position is that it’s better to spend $300 on a dress that you will wear and love for years than waste $75 on a dress that’s unwearable even once. Caveat emptor, but we are giving you some honest advice to avoid heartbreak. Save up and buy quality.
Q: Do you sell Visual Kei fashion?
A: We sell many items that can be used in visual kei coordinates, though few brands in Japan claim to produce "visual kei fashion". SEX POT ReVeNGe, which is often held as the standard-bearer for VK fashion, calls their fashion "punk". So that's how we refer to it as well. But you can certainly use their clothes - as well as Hellcat Punks and even Putumayo or Maxicimam items - in a VK coordinate. Use your imagination.
Q: What about “decora” fashion? Do you sell it?
A: Decora fashion was popularized by FRUiTS magazine and is still seen around Japan occasionally. The problem is there’s really no hard definition of decora fashion – it is an almost totally DIY fashion style (in fact, that’s the point). You just pick stuff out that’s colorful and coordinates how you like. We certainly sell some things that could be used in a decora outfit, but it really doesn’t make any sense if a store says it sells decora fashion. Even if something’s labeled “decora”, there’s nothing making it specifically decora other than the label. Most people who wear this fashion in Japan don’t even label themselves that way – they’re just wearing what they like. This was a fashion movement that somebody noticed happening spontaneously, rather than anything conscious. But it has died down quite a bit now anyway.
Q: And mori girl?
A: Similar answer to the one above - mori girl isn't really a fashion style with distinct brands that claim to produce mori girl garments, so it would be difficult for us to stock even if we wanted to. It's more just kind of the overall look of the moment. Also, it is very mainstream, which isn't really what we do. You can buy it at Forever 21. We're not trying to compete with them.
Q: How do you pronounce “Maxicimam”?
A: Believe it or not, it’s pronounced “maximum”, and that’s the meaning of the name too. This is the result of importing an English word into Japanese and then romanizing it back into English.
Q: What is KERA?
A: KERA is a monthly Japanese fashion magazine that is the unofficial bible of the brands and styles that we carry. It is hugely popular, and all of the major alternative street fashion brands participate in its production. Its featured styles do change over time, as it is both a reflection of and influence on street fashion in Japan. Currently, it is mainly focused on punk, retro and distorted hip-hop styles.
Q: What is the Gothic & Lolita Bible?
A: The G&L Bible is a “mook” (magazine/book) that’s put out by the makers of KERA. It’s published periodically and focuses exclusively on gothic and Lolita fashion, since KERA often leans more towards punk. The G&L Bible shares models with KERA.
TokyoPop also published a US version of the G&L bible that’s based on the Japanese version but includes a lot of local content, however their issues were well behind the originals and it seems like the status of the US edition is in limbo right now.
Q: Do you sell these magazines and mooks?
A: Yes! We sell them in our store and online.
Q: Do you sell any other fashion magazines?
A: Not at the moment. We don’t make much money on magazines, so it’s not really worth it. (Shipping a magazine from Japan is very expensive relative to the price of the magazine itself.) We carry the KERA magazines because they’re the biggest and most influential, and we want our customers to see what’s going on in the industry and what the trends are so they better understand the clothes in our store.
