Where the Sleeve Ends: Seven Tenths, Seven Eighths, and the Bare Wrist
Where the Sleeve Ends: Seven Tenths, Seven Eighths, and the Bare Wrist
Japan counts a sleeve in tenths. A war put the watch on the wrist. The 7/8 sleeve lives between the two.
Counted in Tenths
In Japan a sleeve length has a number. The old unit is the bu, one tenth of the whole. A shirt with a sleeve that ends below the elbow is shichibu-sode, a seven tenths sleeve. Pants cut short of the ankle are counted the same way, and a nine tenths pant is kubu-take.
The tattoo masters use the same language. In traditional Japanese tattooing, a gobu sleeve runs to the elbow. A shichibu runs past it, seven tenths of the arm. A nagasode is the long sleeve, all the way down to the wrist.
A sleeve length is a decision about how much of the arm a man shows.
How the Wrist Became Worth Seeing
For most of the nineteenth century a gentleman kept his watch in his pocket. Watches worn on the wrist were jewelry for women.
The aviators changed that first. In the early 1900s the Brazilian flyer Alberto Santos-Dumont wanted to time his flights with both hands on the controls, and a friend in Paris made him a watch to wear on his wrist. Then came the First World War. A man in a trench could not dig a watch out of his coat. In 1917 the British Horological Journal reported that the wristlet watch, little used by men before the war, was now on the wrist of nearly every man in uniform. By 1930, by the count most often cited, wristwatches outnumbered pocket watches fifty to one.
From then on, the wrist was where a man wore time. It has been a place worth seeing ever since.
The Seven Eighths
The 7/8 Sleeve SLUB Ultimate Pocket Shirt has a custom sleeve length I designed. It comes garment dyed in navy. It runs past the shichibu and stops short of the long sleeve. The forearm is covered. The wrist is left clear.
The 7/8 Sleeve shirt is cut from 10.5oz slub cotton produced in the United States. Slub yarn is spun with thick and thin places along its length, which gives the cloth its texture. The seams are heirloom flat stitched, the pocket is our own design, and the shirt is designed and made in Seattle.
What the Sleeve Leaves
A long sleeve covers the wrist. A short sleeve gives up the arm. The seven eighths covers the forearm and leaves the wrist bare.
The 7/8 sleeve sits with our slub pocket tees and the rest of our shirts in the Black Bear Brand Factory Store.
A Way Of Life.
Shop the Story
7/8 Sleeve - Black Bear Brand SLUB NAVY Garment Dyed ~ The Ultimate Pocket Shirt
7/8 Sleeve - Black Bear Brand SLUB ~ The Ultimate Pocket Shirt
The Black Bear Brand Factory Store
Related Reading