Our Denims & Ducks

A listing of all of our bottoms denims and ducks can be found here. Additionally on almost every "Bottoms", "Shirting", "Vests" and "Jackets" product page, you will find a tab entitled "Fabric" this will give images and a description of the fabric used to construct the item you are looking at

Where is your denim made?

All our denim is woven in Japan, much of it on vintage shuttle looms, in specialist mills in Kojima, a small town in Okayama Prefecture.

What is Selvedge (Selvage) denim?

Selvedge (or selvage) comes from the phrase "self-edge" which refers to the edge being finished by the loom instead of sewn together after weaving. Selvedge is the term commonly used to refer to denim that has been produced on a shuttle loom. Since the amount of fabric produced from a shuttle loom is significantly narrower than a projectile (wide) loom, the cotton consumption is higher and the manufacturing time required is greater.

Our selvedge denim usually has a red thread running vertically down the cloth, this identifier is know as the selvedge ID. We use other selvedge fabrics, for example chambray, for shirts and other garments, which have different selvedge IDs.

What is Raw denim?

This is what we call a denim that is “loomstate”, that is to say that it has not been treated or altered in any way post weave. Raw denim is less stable than sanforized denim (see below) and will shrink when washed. Many denim aficionados prefer to buy raw denim garments, created from denim in its pure, untreated state and are happy to deal with the vagaries and uncertainties of shrinkage. If you prefer to “play safe” you should purchase jeans where the denim has been sanforized, or at least one-washed.

What is Sanforized denim?

Sanforization is a post weave process, patented by Sanford Lockwood Cluett in 1930. It is a method of shrinking and fixing the woven cloth in both length and width before it is made into garments and other items. The fabric to be sanforized is moistened by water and/or steam, this lubricates the fibres and reduces the inherent friction within the fabric. Once moist, the fabric enters the sanforization process proper.Here, an endless rubber belt is squeezed between a pressure roll and a rubber belt cylinder, it is here that the stretching of the elastic belt surface occurs. The more the rubber belt is squeezed, the more the surface is stretched.

What type of cotton do you use and where is it from?

Aspero is a naturally occurring wild cotton that is found in the foothills of North East Peru: being a tree it is not farmed and so is one of the purest, most organic cottons available. As it cannot be mass-produced it has been highly prized for generations by the indigenous Peruvian population for its qualities of fineness, softness, volume and also strength. Most of our cotton for denims and other fabrics is sourced from the USA, we also use smaller quantities of Aspero cotton from Peru for our Ultra Heavy Flannel (UHF) shirting fabric.