Kimono remake
Kimono remake is the making of new garments from old Japanese cloth: kimono, obi, haori and working coats unpicked and recut into shirts, jackets, dresses and trousers. In our reading, it is a modern fashion with an old habit underneath it, because Japanese clothing has always been built to be taken apart.
Definition
A remake keeps the old cloth and changes the garment. The cloth may be a silk furisode, a woven obi, an indigo work jacket or a fire-brigade coat; the result may be an aloha shirt, a souvenir jacket, a blouson, a dress or a pair of trousers. A piece counts as a remake when the textile is older than the cut, and its value rests on both: the quality and age of the cloth, and the skill of the new construction.
The house separates remake from print. A shirt printed today with a kimono pattern is a wagara garment; a shirt cut from a kimono is a remake.
Origin
The habit is old. A kimono is made from a single bolt of cloth, the tanmono, cut into rectangles rather than complex shapes, so it can be resized or unpicked back into bolt lengths. Worn-out kimono were historically reused in many ways. Thin, formal silk too delicate for practical clothing was re-sewn into children's kimono; kimono were shortened, the okumi taken off and the collar re-sewn to make haori, or simply cut at the waist to make a side-tying jacket. After marriage or a certain age, young women shortened the sleeves of their kimono, and the spare cloth became a furoshiki wrapping cloth or a patchwork undergarment. Kimono in better condition became under-kimono, and worn cloth went into smaller items or into patchwork, held together and decorated with sashiko.
The modern remake applies that habit to Western cuts. In our reading, it took hold as old kimono became plentiful and inexpensive in Japan, and as designers and small ateliers saw in them cloth of a quality no longer made.
Key facts
| Definition | New garments cut from old Japanese cloth |
|---|---|
| Source cloth | Kimono, obi, haori, hanten, work jackets |
| Why it works | Kimono are built of rectangles from one bolt and unpick easily |
| Historical reuse | Children's kimono, haori, under-kimono, patchwork |
| Modern forms | Aloha shirts, sukajan, blousons, dresses, trousers |
How to identify it
- Look for the old seams. In our handling, a remake often shows ghost lines of old stitching, a change in fade at a former fold, or a pattern that breaks where two kimono panels meet.
- Read the cloth first. Name the source: silk crepe, brocade obi, indigo cotton, kasuri. The cloth sets the value as much as the label.
- Check the construction. Good remakes finish inside seams and line delicate silk; weak ones leave raw edges.
- Condition of old silk. In our handling, aged silk can split along folds and at stress points; check the seat, elbows and pockets of a remake in silk before the rest.
- One of one. Because the cloth is finite, most remakes are single pieces; sizes cannot be repeated.
Where it appears in the collection
Remakes sit on the aloha, wagara and kimono remake shelf. Examples include a deconstructed aloha shirt in vintage kimono silk, a souvenir jacket remade from an uchikake and obi cloth and a brocade blouson with cranes and fans. For the full story, see our guide to Japanese remake fashion.
Related entries
- Aloha shirt: a form born, in Hawaii, partly from kimono cloth.
- Boro: the patched cloth of the older habit of reuse.
- Wagara: the patterns remakes carry.
Sources
- Kimono, encyclopaedia entry, sections on reuse, construction and cost. wikipedia.org
Last reviewed 15 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.