Why Japanese Made Goods Are the Best in the World
Why Japanese Made Goods Are the Best in the World
I get tattooed in Tokyo when I go, and the more time I spend there, the more sure I am of one thing.
When it comes to certain things, Japanese made goods are the best in the world. Not because of marketing, but because of a way of thinking. There is a word, kaizen, that means continuous improvement, the belief that a thing is never truly finished and there is always a smaller detail to perfect. When a craftsman gives his life to one skill, then his son, then his grandson, you get a mastery that cannot be faked.
Okayama, the home of denim
Nowhere is this clearer than Okayama, in the Kojima district of Kurashiki, the birthplace of Japanese denim. The area produced textiles since the Edo period, and the first private spinning mill in Japan opened there in 1881. When Japan set out to make its own jeans, Kojima already had the skill in its hands. The indigo they achieve is so distinctive it earned its own name, Japan blue.
The magic is in the method
Great Okayama denim is woven slowly on vintage shuttle looms, narrow machines that leave a finished self edge, the selvedge you see when you cuff a real pair. The yarn is rope dyed, dipped in indigo and lifted to the air over and over so color rides the surface while the core stays white. That is what gives denim its incredible fades. It is slower and harder, and it is the only way to get that result.
No compromise
When I designed the Vintage Ultimate Jeans I would not cut a corner. Botanical indigo, rope dyed organic cotton, 13oz shuttle loom selvedge, crafted in Okayama, built to age with you. You feel the same discipline in the Huntley Flannel, the highest level of shirting I know how to make. Once you have held truly Japanese made goods, good enough stops being acceptable.
A Way Of Life.
Shop the Story
Vintage Black Bear Brand, The Ultimate Jeans · https://blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store/vintage-black-bear-brand-homage-to-the-101z-jeans
Black Bear Brand Huntley Flannel · https://blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store/black-bear-brand-huntley-flannel
All Jeans and Pants · https://blackbearbrand.com/black-bear-brand-factory-store?category=Pants
Related Reading
Made in Seattle, Made in Japan · https://blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/made-in-seattle-made-in-japan
Botanical Indigo: The Oldest Blue · https://blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/botanical-indigo-denim
The Old American Machines in Japan · https://blackbearbrand.com/blog-1/american-denim-machines-japan-myth