J Diamandis worked for Evisu – the famed Japanese brand - for some years as its international  creative director. Besides denim designing, he is also involved in denim education at various internationally reputed design schools including Parsons in New York and RCA in London where he recently ran a project on reducing environmental impact during denim production. Here is a Q&A session I had with him on his work with Evisu and after. a Q. When and how Evisu brand ...Read More

Tags: Denim Brands, Denim Q & A

These are the toughest, strongest, most stubborn jeans in the world, no argument… This statement greets you when you visit the website of Iron Heart Jeans . It can leave one wondering whether it could be true . However, made with an average of 21 oz denim , the jeans are really tough and built to last a lifetime. Started over 9 years ago by Japanese bikers in search of the perfect jeans for daily riding, Iron Heart’s denim jeans and jackets are nothing short of impressive as they ...Read More

Tags: Denim Q & A

Just released ‘The Denim Book‘ by Lightning is a great read with the who’s who of Japanese denim industry being profiled. This book follows in the series of journals that started with The Boots Book a few months ago.Over 70 Japanese denim brands, retailers and managers are interviewed ,giving a great insight into how the Japanese Denim Industry works. Here are some photographs of the book : Via : Denim News ...Read More

Tags: the denim book

In last couple of years Evisu seemed to have been losing some reputation among international denim buyers because of  too many flashy artifacts on the back pockets and for lacking subtelity. However, there is still lot of love among its dedicated consumers in Japan and Evisu seems determined to get much more of international attention and customers with its new heritage releases. Also it has to be remembered that Evisu is still one the best producers of Selvedge denim in the world. Evisu is ...Read More

Tags: denim collections, evisu, evisu denim jeans

Gordon Heffner is the owner of the Denim shop Blue in Green in New York. This shop is one of the best shops in the world for buying Japanese denims. In an interview to Tokyo Eye, Gordon tells about some specialities of the jeans from Japan and takes us through a tour of Tokyo denim market. Some highlights of the video: Have a look at Green tea dyed, Persimmon dyed or even MUD dyed jeans . Sugarcane denim made from 50% sugarcane extract is also interesting. Distressing of jeans: Can you age ...Read More

Tags: Japanese denim, jeans distressing, Vintage denim, vintage jeans

Japan Fashion Week recently concluded in Tokyo. Besides the usual show, there was an exhibition on the denim industry in Japan - Japan Blue. The highlight of this exhibiton was that the Japanese denim industry is working on various ways to make the entire Denim/Jeans manufacturing process as environment friendly as possible.Denim fabric manufacturer Nisshinbo is using discarded banana stocks in its fabrics .Manufacturer Nihonmenpu is producing items dyed with natural mulberry lavender.See the ...Read More

Tags: denim developments, fashion week, Japanese denim

Ever heard of the famous Japanese Denim Brand - Sugarcane. ? The unique thing about these Jeans is that they are made from Sugarcane fibre mixed with cotton threads. These threads are dyed in natural dyes(mostly) and then Selvedge denims is woven over 40+ year old Shuttle looms - resulting in a very unique texture due to all these processes.. These can be called truely Vintage denims and are rightly termed as Dungarees and not Jeans. . ...Read More

Tags: Denim Trends

Evisu has launched a new Denim Project called Dirty Dozen + 1 (DD+1) in association with Superfuture and the Blue in Green store in NY . 13 people are wearing a pair each of special customized jeans from Evisu - hand painted by a famous Japanese artist. The jeans shall be worn for a period of 13 months and evaluated…. I like the way Evisu spends time and energy in getting out products which will have ‘TIME APPEAL’ - ie they will be become better with time and age like OLD ...Read More

What is Selvedge/Selvage Denim ? Selvage Denim is the denim made on Old Style Shuttle Looms rather than the modern shuttleless looms. Simply stated it is ‘Self - Edge’ denim which is created since the Weft goes back and forth as a single thread rather than individual threads for each weft weave..As the weft loops back from the end, it creates a ‘Selvage’. Traditionally the denim made on the Shuttle Looms was so narrow that about 3 yards were required to make a jeans. ...Read More

I just do not seem to be stopping to write about Japanese denim. There actually is so much to learn from them that it feels great to write about them. ‘Kato’ is a brand from Japan which is making special Natural Jeans. Their Jeans are made from Zimbabwe Cotton and are dyed by the ‘Hank System’ in natural indigo . This is the oldest system of dyeing cotton in Indigo in which the yarn spends one day in dyeing to the core and another day is spent hanging in a steam room.. ...Read More