Unknown Japanese Brands

[tigerstrom]

Thanks! As Flash said they are Cushman 22501. Great jeans!

[unders]

Cheers for the advice Flash.

[mikecch]

Anybody have information about Tanuki Inc?

Apparently a new project by unnamed industry veterans out of Okayama?

[edmond]

Sound slike theyre from momotaro collect company?

[mikecch]

Yeah?

They also say they have upcoming collabs with Oak Street Boot maker, as well as Oni.

[mikecch]

Look what I found!?

 

This one is apparently 16 oz natural indigo.

[chicote]

Blue Owl is reportedly going to start carrying them soon; I saw a sample pair when I was there last month. Beautiful fabric and construction. The denim reminds me a bit of Stevenson's, without the green caste, and the stitching is fascinating—quite irregular, as you can probably see in the above picture. Hopefully someone here picks up a pair when they're released!

[mikecch]

^ Very nice! I'd be keen, depending on pricing and whatnot.

 

Found their sample book - done up in May.

https://issuu.com/tanukijapan/docs/tanuki__________________

[chicote]

Nice find! I must have seen their "retro" fabric at the store, looks good in those photos too. It seems like each of their two denims are meant to target two completely different groups within the denim community; i'm interested to see if they end up fitting better into one than the other.

[mikecch]

Mmm, they possibly also have a slubby fabric planned, then an indigo x indigo, then black sulfur stretch...and at some point Oni secret denim.

 

Company rep says international purchase is through Blue Owl from next week until a suitable Japanese store is found to handle export.

 

The photos in the sample book do look nice thought - they seem well considered and well made.

If the price is under 25000 yen or thereabout, I'll definitely be keen to try...but then, which fabric?!?

 

We'll wait & see I suppose.

[BlackPig]

Indigo x indigo is very tempting.

[mikecch]

I spammed Denimio today to see if they would stock Tanuki.

The more I see them, the more I like them.

[BlackPig]

I don't need more jeans but will make an exception for a pair of Tanuki indigo x indigo, depending on measurements and price.

Hopefully, Denimio will stock them. The AUD $ is not great ATM, so buying from Blue Owl might be cost prohibitive.

Edited July 13, 2016 by BlackPig

[Niro]

It's another that goes on my ever growing list of jeans to wear/own

[mikecch]

A few Tanuki models now at Blue Owl.

Waist seems to run quite big even with the low-ish rise?

Will wait and see some fits and feedback.

[d-rew12]

^You even get that cool backpack. But man, those measurements suck. I am curious to see what the measurements of the third (straight) pair are but following the theme the rise would probably be way to low. Was definitely very interested too, damn.

[mikecch]

I just drew up the measurements next to my jeans. They seem to indicate very slim legs relative to waist sizes, for both models.

The rise on the slim model also comes out very low.

Hopefully the straight model will be suitable for people who are not stick thin.

[SuperJackle]

Yeah those rises suck big time. I really like that inseam thread color though. Bag is pretty cool too.

[BlackPig]

It's a common theme with certain releases lately with European influence on the cuts. For example, Oni ID x ID models and now this first batch from Tanuki. Short rise, skinny legs, and aggressive taper.

I was keen on Tanuki, but have to wait and see the measurements on their other cuts.

[SuperJackle]

I emailed blueowl today and they said that tanuki is working on another straight fit but they most likely won't be stocking it. Oh well, I have too many pairs as it is.

[BlackPig]

^ It's not Blue Owl's target audience.

Hopefully, Denimio will stock the straight cut.

[chicote]

Alright, alright, here it is, lightly expurgated on account of a few of my photos being corrupted:

 

 

So, Blue Owl had four Tanuki models in the store when I was there—two fits, "slim" and "tapered", and two fabrics, "retro" and "natural indigo". I looked specifically at the slim fit in the retro fabric, as I assume that's what folks here would be interested in, myself included.

 

 

As y'all can see, it's very slim through the thighs and down the leg, with a medium-ish rise.

 

I spoke with Alex and Logan, both Blue Owl employees, for a while regarding the brand. Any information that follows, besides my direct observation, is from them.

 

 

Picking up the jeans, the first thing I noticed was the patch, which I think is nicely designed. The leather, which I believe is a vegetable-tanned goatskin (could be deerskin), is quite stiff, but has a nice depth of color.

 

The retro denim is very nice—it has a bit of heft to it, but is soft, and its texture is really interesting... not knobby and rough like PBJ, nor smooth and flat like SDA, but somewhere in the middle. Alex explained to me that both Tanuki fabrics are low-tension weaves, and shrink and stretch quite a bit.

 

 

The pair beside it, also a slim fit, but in the "natural indigo" fabric, had a patch that was quite different—lots of graininess, really beautiful, I think. Unfortunately, this is the only shot I got of this fabric. It's quite a deep blue, with hints of green and purple coming out in different light. Similar to Eternal's denim in how it feels, although I'm extrapolating somewhat because I've only felt raw Tanukis and one-washed Eternals.

 

Another Blue Owl employee, whose name I am spacing on, was wearing a pair of the natural indigo Tanukis in the tapered fit. They fit him excellently—wish I had gotten a picture. He noted that the initial soak turned the water a vivid shade of red.

 

 

Here's the retro fabric again. The construction on these seems rather well done—the stitching is a bit wobbly at times, but not drastically so. The blue inseam is a nice touch, much more understated than the bright blue of Japan Blue or the pink of Momotaro.

 

 

Probably my favorite part of these jeans are the front pockets—they're so accommodating! Deeply cut, with a real soft gingham used for the pocket bags (also used to half-line the back pockets). Here you can also see a bit of the hardware: Universal rivets and custom buttons.

 

I tried on the Retro Slim cut in a size 30, which is about a half-size up from my average. One of the employees was kind enough to take fit pictures:

 

 

 

This is an extremely comfortable fit, much more so than any of the other slim fits I've tried. The rise is somewhat constricting, but then again, I'm coming from a pair of Sugar Canes—for how the fit is designed I think it works well. The denim feels similar to PBJ when worn, soft, loose, breathable, although obviously it's a very different fabric.

 

I asked whether there were any Japanese retailers carrying Tanuki currently. Alex replied that the brand was being designed almost exclusively for the Western market, and I believe this comes through quite strongly in how these fit. Surely this would be quite a good fit once shrunk down, but it's definitely taking a lot more from contemporary Euro design than from any vintage pattern.

 

 

When I asked Jay, the owner of Blue Owl, about the brand on my way out, he remarked that Tanuki's marketing tactics are meant to allow for the product to speak for itself. He also told me that there is an indigo-indigo fabric currently in development, which Blue Owl hopes to carry before the end of the year, as well as a black fabric that has not yet definitively made it to production.

 

All in all, I'd say these are rather thoughtfully designed, though not necessarily dazzling. The retro fabric is great, extremely versatile, and the slim cut works very well on a Western frame. The branding isn't really my thing, but I don't think it's as obnoxious as recent conversation on this forum has made it out to be. Construction is nice though not perfect, and details are well thought-out. I didn't buy a pair, but I might have considered it were there either a black fabric in the slim fit or a looser fit in the retro denim. Hopefully someone here tries out Tanuki, though! Definitely a unique pair of jeans.

Edited July 22, 2016 by chicote

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Thanks for the objective review! I think the recent discussion let them sound worse than they are.

[mikecch]

Many thanks Chicote! It's nice that Blue Owl folks were so accommodating.
 

Edited August 26, 2016 by mikecch

[garden gnomes in space]

Great review, thanks for making the time.  Im still not really interested in the product and the pics you posted pretty much sow (to me at least) that they are a solid pair of jeans with interesting enough denim  that doesnt really stand out from the already established crowd.  I think I figured out what it was about their secret marketing technique that rubbed me the wrong way.  To me, it's a tactic that a Kickstarter brand would employ to drum up hype as opposed to industry heavyweights letting the product do the talking.  

[Bobbo]

Couple of crappy photos of my Denimbridge lot.2's. I'd say they have about 4 months of office wear on them, not too much to show as of yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edmond]

those tanuki looks like been sewed on the momotaro sewing factory

[jigsaw]

@bobbo

 

The fading phase i love the most,when you know you finally break them from solid indigo colour.

Edited September 5, 2016 by jigsaw

[mikecch]

those tanuki looks like been sewed on the momotaro sewing factory

 

How come Ed? What are the signature details?

[edmond]

Come on may look at the pattern look at the leather patch the top

Block pattern teh color of fabric

The inseam

Stitching....