Tokyo a la Mode. Web Magazine for Japanese Fashion and Urban Culture
Fashion: 11
Spinning Blue Gold
By Bobby / May 24, 2006
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Japan-made denim material has become all the rage in the designer jeans world. You are going to have to throw down some serious jack to snatch up a pair made from this premium denim with some prices running four digits. Just what does the conspicuous consumer get for that high price tag besides looking fabulous? The answer is craftsmanship.
The search for the perfect pair of jeans goes back to the eighties when a fashion craze for denim hit Japan. A rare pair of Levi’s 501 from the forties and fifties would command top yen equivalent to thousands of dollars. Vintage was in vogue for more reasons than they were hard to come by. They had a natural fade, the material was more durable and the workmanship couldn’t be replicated by machines of mass production. For collectors, vintage denim was like blue gold.
By the nineties Japanese denim aficionados started to seek out ways to replicate the old fashioned style. Perhaps the most well known Japanese premium label is Evisu launched in 1991. In order to replicate the stiffer material used on vintage jeans, Hidehiko Yamane, the creator of Evisu, tracked down the original looms used to create the material. This style of denim is known as selvage, short for self edge. Today, when we talk about high quality Japanese denim, we are talking about selvage.
Another characteristic of Japanese denim is the natural indigo dye. The cotton is hand dyed using a technique that goes back 500 years resulting in a different kind of fade from chemical washes.
Every little detail goes into making quality jeans, including the stitching and types of rivets used. The result is a pair of jeans made for style, comfort and durability that will last a lifetime, and maybe even longer.
There are a number of high-end Japanese denim labels that use selvage, most are only available in Japan. Besides Evisu, other brands are Edwin, 45rpm, Sugar Cane and PRPS – just to name a few. If you can’t make it to Japan, you can always pick up selvage jeans from domestic brands like Banana Republic or JCrew. Happy hunting!
Want to learn more? Check out this website: http://www.denimology.co.uk
where can i buy japanesse denim material?
By kevin dale on 2006 08 27
If you are asking about wholesale, I don’t have any contacts. But you can try getting in touch with JETRO. They are a gov’t organization for helping people do business with Japan and a great resource.
http://www.jetro.go.jp/
By bobby on 2007 07 10
Monique, a Leaf fan, set up this absolutely well-defined to believe. Now, let me core out that this was in no way an undertake to glory one pair is more wisely than the other. It was upright a goal to glory two things.
By picsix on 2009 01 05
Mode Shop
