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Why Japanese Denim is the Best in the World
The image of James Dean leaning against a wall in a white t-shirt, red jacket and rolled-up jeans is iconic. Rebel Without A Cause’s “bad boy from a good family” became the perfect symbol of teenage angst and defiant youth culture that made denim a centrepiece in 1950s American fashion. In Japan, another counterculture was bubbling under the surface, and would make way for the creation of modern Japanese denim, famed for its supreme quality and craftsmanship.
With the American Occupation in Japan during the Second World War, came waves of American culture. Once the war ended there were plenty of items that they left behind, including jeans that the off-duty soldiers would wear. So, the trend began to spread, but the quality that’s synonymous with Japan just wasn’t in those imported jeans.
It wasn’t until the early seventies when textile company Kurabo created the first pair of selvage jeans that were made entirely in Japan. It took them eight tries because it has to be made on a special loom to a certain size, but it marked a revolutionary turn in the production of authentically Japanese jeans. Then came a company hoping to appeal to the Western market, and choosing the most distinctly American-sounding name to do so, Big John. Instead of mass-manufacturing on modern machines, they started to produce their own fabrics using traditional…
