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 ...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 ...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

It may be interesting to see how much Japan exports to the US and the EU. I did an analysis and here are the results.The results are not very surprising because exports to both the markets show some similar trends. The year 2004 & 2005 have been the best for exports to both EU and US. Though for exports to US , 2006 has also been the best The prices have been more or less stable over a period of time . In EU also the prices /kg have been more or less stable and so is the case in US. ...Read More

Tags: denim exports, denim fabrics, denim imports, Japanese denim, US Denim Imports

Lets have a look at the import figures of Japanese denim into EU over a period of 7 years from 1999 to 2006 YEAR Import Value(Million Euros) Quantity(100 kgs) Value/Kg (Euros) 1999 9.96 9895 10.06 2000 5.19 4847 10.72 2001 2.80 2504 11.19 2002 3.56 4637 7.68 2003 5.66 6035 9.38 2004 14.37 15811 9.09 2005 14.49 14357 10.09 2006 8.98 9120 9.85      TOTAL IMPORT  : About USD 65 million over 7 years       Source : ...Read More

Tags: EU Denim Imports

There is a growing interest in the shuttle looms in the denim industry to produce the authentic denim. The Japanese and the Italians are the ones using these looms the most. Lets take a look at how does a typical denim shuttle loom from TOYODA and its shuttle looks like: ...Read More

The Japanese denim industry is revered the world over for its innovativeness and its capability to set trends in the Denim Industry. It would be nice to have a look at some facts and figures relating to the Japanese Denim Industry. Denim Exports : 2006 about 56 million sq mtrs. 2007(till march) about 15 million sq mtrs. Jeans :80 million pairs (approx) produced in Japan p.a ...Read More

It may seem improbable that the most authentic vintage versions of the most famous American Apparel brand – Levi’s – have to be bought in a some ‘Hinoya Plus Mart’ in Japan… But it is true as New Times Reports . The vintage Levi’s with the most authentic accessories including Scovill Zippers , can be found in this obscure mart in Tokyo. So much so that Levi’s has been forced to sue them . And of course that has not been without a sense of ...Read More