The Japanese denim label with a one-year waiting list for its S$2,600 jeans
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Remarkable Living
The Japanese denim characterization with a one-yr waiting list for its S$2,600 jeans
Hisao Manabe is credited not simply with establishing cult brand Momotaro Jeans, but also with reviving his ageing hometown of Kojima, known as the birthplace of Japanese denim.
Momotaro Jeans was founded in 2006 in the Japanese port city of Kojima. (Photo: Threesixzero Productions)
05 February 2022 06:30AM (Updated: xvi Aug 2022 02:49PM)
A once bustling port city with its history rooted in textile manufacturing, Kojima, in Japan'due south Okayama prefecture, has been cultivating cotton every bit far dorsum as the Edo catamenia. But due to its waning population, businesses started to fail and somewhen, all that was left were sometime, shuttered stalls lining the abandoned streets.
Years later, Kojima breathed new life again thanks to ane Hisao Manabe, CEO of Japan Blue Jeans and a leading figure in diverse revitalisation projects for the city, including a 600m-long denim-themed street aptly called Kojima Jeans Street.
"I wanted to make the town more lively. When I was thinking of what would be skillful for that, I thought, allow'southward make a street total of jeans. I wanted people in Nihon and effectually the earth to come up and buy jeans here," he shared.
Created in 2010, the street has well over 40 denim brands, each specialising in either vintage, loungewear, womenswear or custom-made jeans, like Manabe's own label, Momotaro Jeans.
As you walk down the lane looking into the beautifully decked-out concept stores, you will instantly feel an artisanal spirit and passion for denim craftsmanship.
There are numerous boutiques, galleries, cafes, and restaurants that make up the hip neighbourhood, with a clothesline display of jeans hanging overhead. The perfect catastrophe to an indigo-filled 24-hour interval would be a terminate at the ice-cream parlour for some succulent blue soft-serve ice cream.
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"I want to promote craftsmanship hither in Okayama, in Kojima. I want this identify to be known even more than as 'Jeans Town' and then that it appeals more to the rest of the world," he remarked.
Manabe started producing denim for other jeans manufacturers earlier in his career, merely as his passion for denim grew, he also was inspired to create his own label focusing on premium textiles.
"No matter how much particular nosotros put into our work, if information technology is invisible, no one will know. Nosotros had the know-how of making jeans, and wanted to create our own brand that lasts. Our aim was to brand Momotaro with the all-time Japanese denim there is," he expressed.
Launched in 2006, Momotaro steadily built a cult following in Japan, the United states and Europe. Its popular Going to Battle collection features dark indigo denim with signature double white lines on the back pocket. But the creme de la creme is the Gilt Characterization – fabricated-to-measure jeans that have a ane-year waiting list and a price tag of 200,000 yen (almost S$ii,600) a pair.
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"I wanted to brand something comparable to vintage jeans with meticulous craftsmanship the Japanese are known for and a certain sense of obsessiveness for quality," said Manabe on the rationale behind the high price tag.
Momotaro jeans are made from 100 per cent Zimbabwean cotton. The threads used to create the denim are painstakingly hand-dyed with natural indigo. And they need to exist dyed over and over again a total of 30 times. Five bundles of these threads are needed to make one pair of jeans.
The manus-dyed threads are woven past a traditional manual handloom exclusively for Gold Characterization jeans. It takes about a week to weave textile for just one pair of jeans, and the workshops merely produce iv pairs of Gold Label jeans a month.
"In textile making, I believe it's meliorate to weave the denim slowly. Yous can feel the deviation in those that are weaved well. This process requires patience. Sometimes we become told that we're foolish, but this is what we must exist particular near," he insisted.
The meticulous piece of work put into producing a regular pair of Momotaro jeans is just as tedious. 1 pair of jeans goes through 15 dissimilar types of machines and over 30 sewing processes. This slow and systematic arroyo can churn up to 100 pairs a week.
Like the story of Momotaro – where a immature boy springs forth from a big peach to symbolise skilful health and longevity – Manabe hopes his characterization will go far in the earth. "Momotaro is non just a fashion brand that offers the latest trends, it creates real clothing to exist loved forever."
Adapted from the series Remarkable Living (Season three). Lookout man full episodes on CNA, every Lord's day at eight.30pm.
Disclaimer: This video was filmed before the COVID-nineteen pandemic.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/remarkableliving/momotaro-jeans-cult-japanese-denim-252321
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