The WOMAN Thermal Henley, Made in Japan

The WOMAN Thermal Henley, Made in Japan

Natural white cotton, a waffle knit from Japan, and a shape that has belonged to the river for a long time.

A beauty

For years I wanted to make something for a woman and it would not come. Then London. That story is told in The Woman Who Started It, and it is where the WOMAN collection began.

The WOMAN Japanese Cotton Thermal Henley is part of that collection. It is soft and plain and beautiful. It is the piece you reach for first and keep on all day.

A name from the river

The henley takes its name from Henley-on-Thames, the English town whose rowers made the buttoned collarless shirt their uniform. The town has held its regatta on the Thames since 1839, and it has been the Henley Royal Regatta since 1851.

Women row there too. Henley Women's Regatta began in 1988 and is held on the Royal Regatta course. It now runs over two days and draws more than 500 entries.

A shirt made for the water has become a shirt for everywhere.

The waffle

The WOMAN henley is cut from an 8.6oz waffle fabric made in Japan, in 100% cotton. A waffle knit is woven into small raised squares. They give the cloth its texture and hold a thin layer of warmth against you.

The color is natural white. It is soft and warm in tone, and it sits beautifully next to indigo, rose and tweed.

The details

The waffle runs all the way up through the neckline, so the texture never stops. The seams are heirloom flat stitch throughout, which keeps them smooth against the skin. The henley is 100% made in Japan.

It is a stock design in sizes Small through X-Large, and it has its own size guide, linked near the top of its product page.

What it lives with

The henley was made to sit with the rest of Black Bear Brand WOMAN.

With the WOMAN Boy Friend Washed Jeans, 12oz shuttle loom selvedge produced in Okayama in the special BBBW wash, finished in pink and gold thread with rose red pocket bags.

With the WOMAN Vintage Rose Boy Friend Cords, 8oz washed corduroy produced for Black Bear Brand in Japan in a color that belongs to the brand.

Under the WOMAN WILDFLOWER Harris Tweed Chore Coat, the first Black Bear Brand Harris Tweed coat made for women.

His and hers

There is a henley for him as well. The Ultimate Thermal Henley is 11.5oz cotton and modal waffle with custom Black Bear Brand shell buttons, designed and made in Seattle. Each one was made for its own wearer, from its own cloth, in its own sewing room.

A Way Of Life.

Shop the Story

WOMAN Japanese Cotton Thermal Henley

WOMAN Boy Friend Washed Jeans

WOMAN Vintage Rose Boy Friend Cords

WOMAN WILDFLOWER Harris Tweed Chore Coat

All Women's Products

Related Reading

The Woman Who Started It

Boyfriend Jeans: The Beginning, and the Style

The Henley Shirt: History, Waffle Knit, and Why It Works