SugarCane 1990's M-Series Archive

[yung_flynn]

Accidentally stumbled upon a mislabeled M11619 in case anybody is into them

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187435837976?

[CSL]

What original jacket is this based on? 

[Double 0 Soul]

It came at a time of artistic licence in the SC timeline (1998-2003) when SC were being creative with their own interpretation of cuts / eras.

In 1997 Sugarcane made an "anti-replica'" declaraion.. writing in the magazine  "Jeans The Complete Edition"  they announced their pursuit of originality.. it was known as their 'breaking away from replicas period'.. they noted that  "we will only make jeans which reflect our own particular preference"

[CSL]

Ah ok. Thanks for clarifying.

[Lorcan]

Is it fair to assume their interest in working with Christophe doing Mister Freedom basically came out of this era? Like, they wanted to do non-replica stuff and it hadn't worked with Sugar Cane. 

[Double 0 Soul]

Maybe.. but a lot of biz happened in between..

The way i look at the SC timeline, they were making (MP series) replicas in the 1980s, at this point there would have only been a handful of repro denim companies doing the same.. in 1991 on the cusp of the denim boom they expanded with the M-Series, over the boom years, lots more denim brands, shops ect joined the growing repro market.. but like all booms, they don't last forever and with no market outside of Japan, by 1998 I assume the repro-denim market was somewhat saturated..

SC must have seen their company grow on the back of the boom and were now looking at a slowing market so the decision was made to stop making replicas and try something different.. alas, i don't think the market was quite aligned for non-replica jeans, i assume they shifted less units but they would have continued to shift less units if they would have chosen to stick to the replica path.. 

By 2003, they started making replicas again but didn't give up their experiments.. channeling their efforts into dying techniques and 50/50 fabrics with Okinawa's and Hawaii’s which themselves are not a repro cut.. just loosely based, much like the 98-series.. by 2006 there was mud, grass, persimmon, rainbow, Begin.. and the range of Edo Ai's.. Mister Freedom followed thereafter.

Edited September 23, 2025 by Double 0 Soul

[Lorcan]

Ah fair points I hadn’t been thinking about when the Okinawa, persimmon, etc. had kicked off 

[CSL]

While I'm not sure why he specifically chose Sugar Cane, I do know Christophe found it impossible to find a US manufacturer that would pay attention to details like stitch count / stitches per inch. He said it was hopeless.

[okimoto]

1 hour ago, CSL said:

While I'm not sure why he specifically chose Sugar Cane, I do know Christophe found it impossible to find a US manufacturer that would pay attention to details like stitch count / stitches per inch. He said it was hopeless.

Lifting this straight from Standard and Strange’s interview with Christophe

https://standardandstrange.com/blogs/standard-strange-stories/interview-with-mister-freedom-s-christophe-loiron?srsltid=AfmBOooc7J2QdUx9GZsYG5mddJCnxVQ83CnN_KXf_g32iII58dRrSKOz

 

S&S: You’ve had this long-standing relationship with Sugar Cane Denim and Toyo Enterprise. How did that come about? 

CL: When I was on my own at the store, before I started making clothing, I would always mess around with military surplus, you know like dyeing stuff or cutting the sleeves and making bags out of old tents and this and that. I would always alter things. It was not exactly designing, but it was just like reconstructing clothing. And there was a big boom in Japan at the time for what in the US they call “remake.”

And then I got contacted by the Sugar Cane people from Toyo Enterprise. Three of them came to the store, and I knew of the brand because I had worn Sugar Cane Jeans when I was in Japan, and they asked me to design a pair of jeans. And I said, "Of course," but of course I had no idea how to do that. I knew what old jeans looked like from different brands and this and that, but as far as making one from scratch, I didn’t know anything. They gave me a deadline.

Two weeks before the deadline I was like, "Oh-oh." So I deconstructed a bunch of jeans. Actually it was a pair of naval dungarees originally. And again, I knew how to sew, I just didn't know anything about patterns or how to make garments. Also, I did not want them to be stamped as a fashion piece. So the only justification that I could come up with was they had to look like it could have existed. So I came up with this little somewhat historical scenario with the jeans. It was a merchant marine guy who had to scramble and make a pair of work pants for himself. And so I kind of wrote up that little story and the resulting jeans were complete Frankenstein. When I submitted that to the Toyo people, they were like, "Wow, that's kind of interesting. Let's see." They definitely were not a hit but some people liked them.

[Double 0 Soul]

They certainly experimented hard in 98 .. 

 

[nopal]

For the trim of waist: https://jp.mercari.com/item/m48636761918

[nopal]

Had a pair of MP-597 in size W32/L34 delivered today

[Double 0 Soul]

You lucky bastard!

Is that rivet silver?

Congratulations.. how much?

[julian-wolf]

Fantastic!!!

Can’t wait to see how they wear in

I’m wildly jealous

[nopal]

Thanks!

Rivet is copper - that would’ve been interesting though.

Scooped them up for ¥15700. Can’t believe my luck!

[Double 0 Soul]

Nicely done!

It could be your copper riveted pair which are interesting.

I've only seen one breakdown of the MP-597 .. this pair^ which belong to @Spiraltoy so i assumed all MP-597s had a single silver rivet back / quirk repro.. but that's not the case.

If you want to do a comparison.. there's a google album here, if anything stands out, let us know 👍

https://www.denimbro.com/sugar-cane_topic92_page56.html?KW=597

Edited October 10, 2025 by Double 0 Soul

[nopal]

I took a look but nothing but the rivets stood out. On closer inspection it could be a different base metal that's been coated to look like copper so I'm wondering if they might end up looking like @Spiraltoys one button - the other one on that picture looks positively copper though.

 

More pictures:

(Hidden rivet is stamped '25')

[yung_flynn]

26 minutes ago, nopal said:

On closer inspection it could be a different base metal that's been coated to look like copper

Is it magnetic? That could be an easy way to see if it is just copper plating on top of an iron rivet.

[Double 0 Soul]

29 minutes ago, nopal said:

(Hidden rivet is stamped '25')

 

Thanks.. i asked Spiraltoy what was stamped on the hidden rivet but i never got an answer..

'25' probably dates the MP-597s to 1990 👍

[nopal]

7 minutes ago, yung_flynn said:

Is it magnetic? That could be an easy way to see if it is just copper plating on top of an iron rivet.

Thanks @yung_flynn. It’s not magnetic so must be copper.

[Double 0 Soul]

Pure speculation this but, working backwards.. the 98-Series ran from 1998-2003 so a 5yr span, the M-Series ran from 1992-1998 so a 6yr span..if the MP-597s were a 25th Anniversary pair and MP production stopped in 1991, we're probably looking at the MPs starting production around 1985

[Maynard Friedman]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:29 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

Could those rivets be celebrating 1990? Toyo Enterprises was founded in 1965, so 25th anniversary then.

 

[Double 0 Soul]

What pair was it Martin../  @julian-wolf  images are lost for me?

fwiw.. the MP-603 also has something stamped on the hidden rivet but my images are not clear enough to see it

Chances are it's also '25'

[Maynard Friedman]

On 9/15/2024 at 3:19 AM, julian-wolf said:

Resurrecting this from the depths…

This was a pair of (supposedly) M41030 that didn't quite match up—pink line denim, in stead of white, and a number of other details different from the standard M41030. 

Well, looking back through the thread, I'm seeing the S.C. & Co - T.Y. rivet shanks with the "25" in the middle, which just came up in the last page or so in the context of a pair I saw on Yahoo that looked like MP-series, but didn't have much on which to base an ID. @Maynard Friedman suggested that they were likely a 1990 production, with the 25 referencing the Toyo Enterprise 25th anniversary. Seemed very plausible. As it happens, these were made from a pretty similar looking pink-line denim to the pair above.

Maybe @Graytrain's pair were a very early version, still using left over rivets from 2–3 years earlier, and possibly a transition late-MP / early-M denim?

This is Graytrain’s pair:

[Double 0 Soul]

I think they^ were a pair of odd M41030s which belonged to @Graytrain ..what was the MPs Julian found?

[Maynard Friedman]

No idea about Julian’s pair Neal, that content isn’t viewable in my region, or something…

[Double 0 Soul]

Same..

What i'm thinking is this.. Maybe this speculation is wrong

2 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Pure speculation this but, working backwards.. the 98-Series ran from 1998-2003 so a 5yr span, the M-Series ran from 1992-1998 so a 6yr span..if the MP-597s were a 25th Anniversary pair and MP production stopped in 1991, we're probably looking at the MPs starting production around 1985

..and maybe, there were 4x pairs of Sugarcane 25th Anniversary jeans which all came out in 1990, the MP-597 (with 25 rivet stamp) The MP-603 (with what looks like a 25 stamp) The MP-604 and The MP-619 no 25 stamps on either because they were Leepro / no hidden rivets.. and the reason we see so few MP coded jeans is because they were only released for 12mths

What do y'all think to this synopsis?

[Maynard Friedman]

Seems a reasonably educated guesstimate, given the available evidence  🔎

I’ve no idea how they arrived at the naming convention for the models though!

It’s also worth bearing in mind, if I remember correctly, that Warehouse used their own 25th anniversary rivets on pairs that weren’t released on their 25th anniversary (ie before and/or after then) so this could also be a factor for SC.

[nopal]

MP-604 in W28 L34 up for someone with a neat petite waist:

https://zenmarket.jp/fr/mercariproduct.aspx?itemCode=m78561714756

[nopal]

For Mr Money Bags:

M41101 W33 L36 NWT:

https://zenmarket.jp/fr/mercariproduct.aspx?itemCode=m84616816538