One Pocket
One Pocket
The name is not a boast. It is a count.
People assume the ONE in ONE Jean Jacket means something grand. It does not. It means one pocket. That is the whole story of the name, and I like that it is that plain.
One Pocket
A denim jacket with a single chest pocket is a cleaner object than one with two. The front reads as one continuous piece of cloth with a single point of interest on it, and the eye settles instead of bouncing.
There is a complete history of the jean jacket on the journal, covering how the shape moved from the first type through to the third. This jacket is our own take rather than a reproduction of any of them.
The Denim Took Years
We spent years fine tuning the design and traveling looking for denim we loved, and for a room that could execute the construction we wanted.
What we landed on is 14oz selvedge, rope dyed, at very high warp density, produced specially for Black Bear Brand in Japan. The yarn is 7s by 6.8s.
Warp density is how tightly the vertical yarns are packed. Pack them harder and the cloth gets firmer, holds a crease more sharply, and takes longer to break in. It also costs more to weave, because the loom runs slower and the yarn has to be stronger to survive the tension.
That decision is the reason this jacket feels the way it does out of the box, and the reason it will still be standing up in ten years.
The Details
Special Black Bear Brand cuffs. Triple needle throughout. Black Bear Brand YKK donut button. Bright gold thread, which is a small thing that changes the whole read of the jacket against indigo.
Designed in the USA. One hundred percent made in Japan, cut and sewn in Okayama in the family sewing room we work with there.
The First Layer of the Season
A jean jacket is the thing you put on when the morning is cold and the afternoon will not be. It goes over a tee in September and under a heavier coat in January, and it is the only jacket that works both ways.
I wear mine over a heavy tee most of the fall, and over a thermal when it turns.
It also ages the way the jeans do. Indigo sits on the outside of the fiber, so the elbows and the shoulders and the pocket edge go first, and after a couple of years the jacket has a record of you on it.
A Way Of Life.
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Related Reading
The Jean Jacket: A Complete American History