Everyone says Japan bought America’s old denim looms. Mostly, that is a myth. Josh Sirlin on the Union Special machines, the Toyoda looms, and why the craft really lives in Okayama.
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Dragons and koi born from woodblock prints, applied by hand, one session at a time. Josh Sirlin on irezumi, the tebori craft, and getting tattooed in Tokyo.
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Black Bear Brand is not a new label with an old look. It is a real Seattle company from the early 1900s, with a real factory and a real slogan, that Josh Sirlin spent a decade bringing back.
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Cheap clothes are the most expensive clothes you will ever buy. Josh Sirlin on building a wardrobe of fewer, better pieces that age into the best things you own.
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Josh Sirlin rides a 1948 Panhead that has outlived almost everything built since. Here is what a 76-year-old chopper taught him about designing clothes worth keeping.
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The self-edge is a mark of how denim was woven. Sanforized means it fits true and stays there. Josh Sirlin on selvedge, the beauty of fit, and the story a great pair of jeans tells over the years.
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The best travel clothes work as hard as you do and look better the more you wear them. Josh Sirlin on the wardrobe that earns its place on the road.
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Tokyo may be the best-dressed city on earth. Josh Sirlin on what a decade of design trips taught him about Japanese style, from the Okayama mills to Tokyo backstreets.
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Almost all denim is dyed with synthetic indigo. Josh Sirlin on the plant-derived blue that came first — and the 13oz Okayama jeans built around it.
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No garment has traveled further than the blue jean: from the mine shaft to the runway. Josh Sirlin on how work pants conquered fashion, and how to wear them well.
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How Japan turned motorcycle riding into a style language — vintage Americana, leather, waxed cotton, and indigo — and why it mirrors Black Bear Brand's rugged-refined soul.
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Dragons, koi, and full-body suits born from woodblock prints — and an ocean-crossing love affair. The history of Japanese tattoo, and why America fell for the needle.
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The western shirt looks simple, but every line on it was solved by someone who needed the shirt to work. Josh Sirlin on the anatomy of the greatest shirt America ever made.
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Japan took American chopper culture and made it an art form. From postwar riders to the world's most jaw-dropping custom builds — the story of motorcycle culture in Japan.
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Fashion is what's for sale this season; style is who you are in it. A field guide to building a personal style that lasts — and gets better with age.
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The matching top-and-bottom sweatsuit went from the track to the street to the sofa. Its history — and why a heavyweight terry set is the most luxurious thing you can live in.
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Loose, lived-in, and quietly powerful — the boyfriend jean turned ease into elegance. Why relaxed denim keeps returning to the runway, and how to wear it with confidence.
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One legendary Horween hide — first a motorcycle seat, then a jacket seen on Yellowstone — reborn as the softest rough-out chore coat, now in his and hers. A closer look.
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A faded bear still watches over 1st Avenue in Seattle. The true story of Black Bear Brand — a 1902 overall shop, a landmark daylight factory, and the ghost signs that outlived it all.
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Born on French rail lines and farms as the "bleu de travail," the chore coat is the most quietly perfect work jacket ever made. Its history — and why it never goes out of style.
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