Japan's Denim Obsession: How Americana Became Craft

The blue jean was invented in San Francisco in 1873. The idea that it could be a craft object, worth studying loom by loom and fade by fade, was invented in Japan a century later. No other country kept the old pairs so carefully, reproduced them so exactly, or took the fabric itself so far from where it started. This guide follows that obsession from the first imported Levi's to the embroidered remakes, and shows what it means for a collector buying denim from Japan today.

Act one: the originals

American jeans reached Japan with the post-war occupation and with the Ivy-style boom of the 1960s, when magazines such as Men's Club taught a generation how to dress like an East Coast undergraduate. By the 1980s Japanese buyers were crossing the Pacific to empty thrift stores and ranch attics of Levi's 501s, 506XX trucker jackets and Lee 101s, and prices for pairs with the right details rose faster in Tokyo than anywhere else. A pre-war 501XX with its hidden rivets, a Big E red tab, a single-stitch back pocket: these were the first things a Japanese vintage dealer learned to read, and the standards of description they set are still the standards the market uses.

The pieces came home to be kept. That is why original 1950s and 1960s Levi's and Lee jackets still surface in Japan in honest, unwashed condition, and why the Japanese grading scale, explained in Japanese condition ranks explained, describes fading and repairs so precisely.

Act two: reproduction as a discipline

When the originals ran out, Japan made them again. Big John in Kojima had made the first domestic jeans in the 1960s using imported Cone Mills cloth. In 1973 Kurabo wove Japan's first selvedge denim in Kojima, Okayama, and through the 1980s and early 1990s a handful of Osaka brands, later called the Osaka Five, set out to reproduce the vintage pair down to the loom. Studio D'Artisan started in 1979, Denime in 1988, Evisu in 1991, Fullcount in 1992 and Warehouse in 1995. Their method was archaeological: old shuttle looms, natural indigo, unsanforized cloth, cotton-covered buttons and the exact pocket shapes of specific years. The story of the town and its mills is told in our Kojima and Okayama selvedge guide, and the five brands in The Osaka Five.

The distinguishing marks are easy to learn. Selvedge is the self-finished edge of a narrow shuttle-loom cloth, visible when the hem is turned up, usually with a coloured line in the edge. Slubby, uneven yarn gives the vertical streaks that Japanese denim is known for. Heavyweights of 17, 21 and even 25 ounces are a Japanese invention that the original mills never attempted.

Act three: the remake

Having reproduced the past, Japanese designers began to rebuild it. Kapital cut boro patchwork from worn indigo and sewed it into coats; see the Kapital guide. Evisu's Hidehiko Yamane hand-painted the seagull on every back pocket and then put kimono patterns onto denim jackets; see Evisu. Wagara brands embroidered dragons, koi and chrysanthemums across jeans with the density of a souvenir jacket; they live in the embroidered denim room. And individual makers remade vintage Levi's with sumi-ink tigers and kimono silk, which is the denim the Levi's room holds. Even the luxury houses joined: Louis Vuitton's Monogram denim, the NIGO patchwork bomber and the Damier pixel trucker are in the Louis Vuitton denim room.

Reading a pair

• The selvedge line. Red is the Levi's convention, but Japanese mills use white, pink, green and blue lines to identify their cloth. The line alone does not prove quality; look at the weave.
• Weight and shrinkage. Unsanforized cloth shrinks on first wash, often by a size. Japanese descriptions say whether a pair is one-washed or raw.
• Hardware. Copper rivets, cotton-covered or iron buttons and the style of the button-fly all carry the brand's intentions. On vintage Levi's, the rivet backs and the tab are the first checks.
• The fade. Honeycombs behind the knee, whiskers at the hip and a wallet mark on the back pocket are earned, not printed. Japanese collectors prize a pair that was worn by one person for years, and the grade will say so.
• Size. Japanese waist sizes are given in inches on the label but cut slim; measure flat and compare with our sizing guide.

Why buy denim from Japan

Three reasons. The best vintage American pairs are more likely to be in a Japanese wardrobe than an American one. The reproduction brands are Japanese, so their archive pieces, first runs and shop-only editions are here. And Japanese owners describe wear honestly, keep paper tags and shop bags, and sell on when they move to a new fit rather than when a pair is worn out. The result is a market where a collector can buy with confidence, which is the subject of Why Japan Is the World's Finest Market for Pre-owned Luxury.

In the archive now

• Evisu · Studio D'Artisan · Levi's
• Embroidered Japanese denim
• Louis Vuitton Monogram denim
• American Casual (Amekaji) archive

Continue reading

• The Osaka Five: The Brands That Rebuilt Selvedge Denim
• What Is Amekaji? The Japanese Discipline of American Casual
• Japanese Streetwear: A Field Guide to the Cultural Archive
• Directory of Japanese Denim Brands
• All collector guides

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Index terms: japanese denim · japanese selvedge denim brands · vintage levis from japan · levis 501xx · lee 101 vintage · osaka five denim · kojima denim · raw denim japan · heavyweight selvedge · evisu vintage · remake denim japan · embroidered jeans japan