Made in Seattle, Made in Japan: The Two Homes of Black Bear Brand
One brand, two homes. Here is why Black Bear Brand is built in Seattle and in Okayama, and why that is not a contradiction at all.
Where it starts: the Pacific Northwest
Black Bear Brand comes out of the Pacific Northwest. Out of Seattle. Out of a hundred years of Northwest history that I brought back to life on my own, one piece at a time. The land up here is rugged and honest and just a little unforgiving, and that is baked into everything I design. Rain, timber, mountains, the open road. That is the soul of the brand, and it never leaves the work.
And some of it is still built right here. Our 30oz terry sweats are made in the USA, cut and sewn in Seattle, garment dyed in the USA in our own Charcoal Grey. That is the heaviest, most honest sweat I know how to make, and it is made a short drive from where the original company stood in 1914.
Where the denim lives: Okayama, Japan
Then there is Japan. I traveled the world looking for two things: denim I could truly love, and a factory that could execute the jeans I saw in my head. I found both in Okayama. The best denim on earth is woven there, on slow shuttle looms, with real indigo, by people who treat cloth like a craft worth a lifetime of their attention.
Our selvedge and our corduroy are produced specially for us there, then cut and sewn in the finest sewing room in Okayama, a family operation running more than five generations. The Japanese diamond quilting that lines our jackets comes from there too. Design born in the Northwest, built by the finest hands in Japan.
And a third place, out in the North Atlantic
Then there is the Outer Hebrides, where our Harris Tweed is woven by hand in the weavers’ own homes, because by law it can be made nowhere else on earth. So on our Psychedelic Blue Tartan Western Jacket you get Scottish wool on the outside, Japanese diamond quilting on the inside, and an American design holding it all together. Three places, one jacket, no compromises anywhere.
Why more than one home
People sometimes ask why an American brand makes so much overseas, usually with an eyebrow raised. Here is my honest answer. I care far more about being the best than about being convenient. Japan is where the denim craft went to be perfected while much of the world chased cheap and fast. The Hebrides is the only place on earth Harris Tweed exists. To make the things I had been dreaming about for years, I had to go where the craft actually lived. So I went.
It is not a compromise, and it never was. It is the entire point. American design, executed by the best hands in the world at whatever it is they do best.
A brand you can trace
Everything we make can be traced back to a real place and a real reason. Seattle for the soul and the terry. Okayama for the denim, the corduroy, and the quilting. The Outer Hebrides for the wool. Nothing hidden, nothing handed off to the lowest bidder to pad a margin. You can follow the whole thread, start to finish.
A Way Of Life.
Shop the story
Ultimate 30oz Terry Hoody, made in USA, cut and sewn in Seattle · blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store/black-bear-brand-ultimate-30oz-terry-hoody
Harris Tweed Psychedelic BLUE Tartan Western Jacket · blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store/harris-tweed-psychedelic-blue-tartan-wool-western-jacket-with-diamond-quilt-lining
Okayama selvedge denim, Jeans / Pants / Shorts · blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store (Jeans / Pants / Shorts)
Related reading
Black Bear Means Long Wear: The 1914 Factory and the Brand I Brought Back · blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/black-bear-means-long-wear
Harris Tweed: The Only Cloth Protected by an Act of Parliament · blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/harris-tweed-history
Travel, Culture, and the Making of a Creative Life · blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/travel-culture-creative-life