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japanalogue

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Posts posted by japanalogue

    Double Volante interview (Yu Kuniyoshi)

    in superdenim

    Posted

    Not super well-known, Yu Kuniyoshi of Double Volante has quietly been doing his thing on the sunny island of Okinawa for over 13 years now, after spending 10 years in Okayama at Kapital learning his craft. A super friendly guy, Kuniyoshi-san is old school...the guy doesn't even own a computer. :biggrin:

    Hope you'll enjoy the interview, but I should warn you that it's pretty much impossible to get his jeans if you live outside of Japan because he has no stockists, no online shop, and doesn't speak much English. He did tell me however that you're welcome to try and DM him on Instagram (@doublevolante), but please be understanding that a reply might take some time as he tries to work through the language thing. Enjoy!

     

     

    Double Volante interview

    9
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    Denim Distancing: Japanese Denim and Covid-19

    in superdenim

    Posted · Edited by japanalogue

    Hey guys, I got a little over-ambitious this time 'round and put together what might be the biggest denim interview in history. Had to break the dang thing in two! :P

    I got in touch with everyone I could think of in the denim world here in Japan and asked them some questions about how they are dealing with the coronavirus situation, how it's affecting their companies, their towns, their families, and themselves. The response was larger than I had anticipated and, after a week straight of translating, eet ees done! :biggrin:

    Pretty heavyweight lineup if I may be so bold as to say so :blink::

    • Pure Blue Japan founder Kenichi Iwaya
    • Iron Heart founder Shinichi Haraki
    • Momotaro/Japan Blue COO (and son of founder) Katsu Manabe
    • Samurai founder Toru Nogami
    • Tanuki tactical magician Minoru Tanaka
    • Full Count founder Miki Tsujita
    • Resolute founder (and ex-Denime) Yoshiyuki Hayashi
    • Okayama Denim founder Merv Sethi
    • Graph Zero founder Tetsuya Suzuki
    • Denimio founder Mahoto Harada
    • Studio D'Artisan manager Yuji Tamanaha
    • Cottle founder Toshiaki Watanabe
    • TCB founder Hajime Inoue

    Hope some of you will find some enjoyment in it. Stay safe and take care!

    Denim Distancing: Japanese Denim and Covid-19

     

     

     

    22

    Japan Blue Momotaro

    in superdenim

    Posted

    On 12/31/2019 at 12:41 AM, mlyngard said:

    This is some great writing and interviewing! As an early devoted Momo and Japan Blue fan, I came to appreciate their quiet devotion to modern, understated, well-made jeans free from any of the eye-catching experimentation of, say, Samurai (though def respect ✊).

    My primary denim complaint over the years has been the very slow awakening of many of the 501-devoted old-school Osaka Five to the Western market demands for modern cuts like the 0306 tapered fit. I think many of us older denimheads have closets full of fits that we did our best to love on, but just couldn’t pull off. I know my own trial and error process with Momotaro (and every other Japanese brand out there) caused me to sell dozens of pairs (excluding those I sold because I got fatter)...

    When Japan Blue was launched in ‘10, I watched Momotaro be one of the first Japanese brands to try innovating the Japanese denim market with new western cuts. Almost everyone followed suit in the next few years, even true old-school devotees like Pure Blue Japan and SD’A. Since slim taper cuts are the best for me this has been a goldmine of returning to previously avoided brands just because fits previously didn’t work for me.

    I like that your interviews really reveal this hard work that Momotaro invested in western market research. Thanks for contributing that!

    Thanks for the kind words! Stay tuned for an SDA interview in the near future. B)

    1

    Stevenson Overall Company

    in superdenim

    Posted

    Hey guys, I'm going to be meeting up with Tagaya-san, co-founder of Stevenson Overall Co. next week (August 29th) to do an in-depth interview with him. If you guys have any questions you want answered I could probably work a few of them into the interview.  I'm working on a denim site that will be online in a few weeks and I'm starting out by interviewing a lot of the heavy-hitters in the denim world.  It's all just for fun; I won't be making money or advertising anything.

    Anyway, if any of you SOC fans have any burning questions for Tagaya-san, let me know! :)

    3

    Pure Blue Japan

    in superdenim

    Posted

    Hey guys, I'm going to be meeting up with Iwaya-san (owner of PBJ) next week (August 28th) to do an in-depth interview with him. If you guys have any questions you want answered I could probably work a few of them into the interview.  I'm working on a denim site that will be online in a few weeks and I'm starting out by interviewing a lot of the heavy-hitters in the denim world.  It's all just for fun; I won't be making money or advertising anything.

    Anyway, if any of you PBJ fans have any burning questions for Iwaya-san, let me know! :)

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