Japan and the United States have had a complicated relationship for the past sixty or seventy years. Defeated in World War II, post-war Japan had a very different reaction to its conquerors than most conquered states throughout history: Japan admired the US. Over the subsequent decades, Japan became infatuated, due in no small part to American culture that filtered over to Japan in the form of music and movies.
America invented the electric guitar – the familiar, timeless designs such as the Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster, and Gibson’s Les Paul and SG guitars. Young Japanese heard the sounds of American and British rock bands and fell in love. Japan’s love of American film had much the same effect in the realm of fashion. Japanese saw James Dean and Marlon Brando – stoic, ronin-esque figures who seemed to encapsulate all of the American pathos into singular, rugged individuals and longed to understand and experience the American way: rebellious, playful, spontaneous, and exciting. It was in many ways the opposite of the strategy that had elevated Japan to its post-war success in the 1970s and 80s: work hard, and work as late as possible. Stay inside the lines. Blend into the crowd.
The nature of Japanese society made it effectively impossible for most people to live an authentic American lifestyle of adventure and freedom (at least, as it was depicted in American cinema). So, on some subconscious level, men shackled in robotic office jobs decided that, if they couldn’t actually live like Americans, they could at least dress the part on their days off.
Japan’s love affair with jeans was born because no other commodity embodied the American ethos the same way that a pair of jeans could. If you wore a pair of vintage Levi’s and had an old American car, then just for a little while, you could pretend that you were in the carefree world of American Graffiti. But much like with the guitar industry, the widespread success of denim resulted in a gradual drop in quality, starting in the late 1960s. By the 1980s, jeans had fundamentally changed. They were mass-produced on projectile looms that created fabric that didn’t seem as interesting or well-dyed as on vintage examples, and many details – like rolled belt loops or hidden rivets – had all but disappeared.
Japan decided to turn back the clocks and change that. But the Japanese denim revival didn’t start in Tokyo – it happened in Osaka, a comparatively free-spirited and relaxed region with 5 companies in particular that would become known as the Osaka 5.
Studio D’Artisan
Image via Corlection.
The genesis of the Osaka 5 can be traced back to 1979, when Studio D’Artisan was founded by Shigeharu Tagaki.
In their early years, the brand’s old-fashioned philosophy — using pure indigo selvedge denim and carefully-sourced parts including cinch-back buckles imported from France —was distinctly at odds with the pre-faded and acid-washed jeans that were popular in the 1980s. The brand’s DO-1 jeans, released in 1986, were not even a true replica of the sort that would become popular a few years later. They were an original design, inspired by the past but with plenty of original ideas as well. These were priced at 29,000 yen — a whopping price for jeans at the time — due to the fabric, which was woven on 27-inch shuttle looms and hank-dyed, a much more time-consuming and difficult process than rope dyeing.
A pair of faded Studio D’Artisan Jeans.
Tagaki left the company in 1995, and in the midst of the vintage jeans boom, D’Artisan began introducing now-iconic models such as the SD-101, which featured deeper indigo dyes and the details that are still associated with the brand today. As the first of the Osaka 5, Studio D’Artisan, in many ways, set the pace that all of the other American Casual brands would follow.
Iconic Products
SD-101
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Available for $200 from HINOYA.
SD-901 G3 Selvedge Denim
Available for $201 from HINOYA.
SD-DO1
Available for $359 from Redcast Heritage.
Denime
The second of the Osaka 5 companies was founded in 1988 by Yoshiyuki Hayashi. Though Hayashi’s company Denime was actually started in Kobe and not Osaka, the company’s general proximity to the others resulted in a close association with the Osaka denim boom. Denime offered arguably the cleanest, most conventional interpretation of the vintage American jean, more closely resembling vintage Levi’s than many brands that would follow.
Denime quickly became the front-runner among the vintage repro companies and encapsulated the movement in a more straightforward way than the more experimental Studio D’Artisan. One reason why Denime became so popular in the repro jeans boom of the nineties was that their products were more accessible due to wider distribution. They were well known for quick fading, making it easy for new denim enthusiasts to see the appeal of old-fashioned selvedge jeans.
After the vintage repro movement peaked in the mid-2000s, Hitoshi Tsujimoto – best known as the founder of The Real McCoy’s– purchased Denime through his retail chain Nylon. Hayashi left and went on to found a new brand, Resolute, which embodies the classic quality of Denime’s jeans and continues Hayashi’s mission to make the perfect interpretation of the classic Levi’s 501.
Recent releases indicate that Warehouse & Co. now holds a stake in Denime after the brand went super quiet for a few years. Jeans are now marketed as Denime by Warehouse & Co. These products have sold very well since returning to the denim market.
Iconic Products
1954 Model 14 oz. Regular Straight Jeans
Available at Redcast Heritage for $247
1947 Model 14 oz. Regular Straight Jeans
Available at Redcast Heritage for $247
1966 Model 14 oz. Regular Straight Jeans
Available at Redcast Heritage for $247
Evisu
Image via Denimio.
Though Hidehiko Yamane was not the first Japanese denim enthusiast to start his own company, he might be the most iconic and is certainly one of the guys responsible for the 1990s boom in Japanese denim. In the late 1980s, amidst growing discontent with the quality of Levi’s and other familiar brands, Yamane began researching vintage jeans and tried to devise his own way to reproduce the quality found in vintage jeans. Along with his coworker Mikiharu Tsujita, Yamane decided to quit his job and start his own jean company in 1991. That was the birth of Evisu, one of the most recognizable and influential names in Japanese denim. The Japanese publication Mono offered Evisu exposure and the brand quickly grew.
If Denime most closely embodied the traditional side of vintage repro denim, Evisu would prove to be the most adventurous. Unlike the other Osaka 5 companies, Evisu expanded far beyond vintage reproductions to become well-known internationally and is undoubtedly the most well-known and successful overseas.
Evisu is influential in the streetwear scene and has found an audience with hip-hop fans – far from the world of vintage-inspired clothing. Although Evisu is best known overseas for the painted gull wing arcuates found on many of its jeans, the brand has never lost touch with its roots, and the Evisu 2000 models remain a favorite for denim enthusiasts around the world.
Iconic Products
Evisu Lot. 2000
Available for $245 from Evisu.
Fullcount
Image via Franklin & Poe.
Initially a co-conspirator with Evisu’s Yamane, Mikiharu Tsujita quickly started his own company, Fullcount (stylized as both Full count & Fullcount). Another member of the Osaka 5, Fullcount was one of the first to use soft, long-fibre Zimbabwe cotton over other varieties. Tsujita described the idea behind his company as creating jeans that “feel so good that you don’t want to take them off until you get in bed.”
A faded pair of Fullcount 1110XX
Tsujita’s goal was to create jeans suited to daily, casual wear rather than a garment worn by a blue-collar worker. This was an attitude that reflected the changing philosophy of denim as jeans had evolved almost entirely into casual wear, rather than a workwear garment. More than the other Osaka 5 brands, Fullcount is focused on everyday life and comfort – something that is evident in their jeans and clothing line. Despite this, the brand has an experimental side being one of the first companies to experiment with heavier-weight fabrics.
Iconic Products
0105
Available for $260 from Redcast Heritage.
1108XX
Available from Clutch Cafe for $315.
1101W
Available for $350 from Blue in Green.
Type I
Available for $367 from Blue Beach Denim.
Type II
Available for $397 from Blue Beach Denim.
Type III
Available for $397 from Blue Beach Denim.
Warehouse & Co.
Image via Signet Store.
Warehouse & Co. was founded in 1995 by Kenichi and Koji Shiotani, making it the youngest of the Osaka 5 brands. Both Kenichi and Koji were previously involved with an incarnation of Evisu, but a difference in philosophy led them to depart and pursue their own denim dreams. They created Warehouse with the intention of faithfully producing vintage mid-century jeans, down to the last detail. They reinforced this philosophy with their motto—“The faithful reproduction of authentic vintage garments.”
Lot 1001XX Heavy Oz. vs. Lot 1001XX 1901 model. Images via Lost & Found & Clutch Cafe respectively.
Warehouse & Co. entered the denim industry with its Lot. 1001xx model raw denim jeans, which remains the brand’s calling card to this day. Today, the code ‘1001XX’ is used similarly to how Levi’s uses the number ‘501’, in that there are different variations of straight leg jean that use the number 1001X, i.e., 1001XX 1901, 1001XX 1947, 1001XX Duck Digger. Other models such as the Lot. 900xx and Lot. 800xx have the same fit every time.
Whatever the model, the Shiotani brothers’ passion for vintage denim shines in every product through period-correct details like iron buttons, copper rivets, red rayon pocket tabs, and more.
“Once people wear an authentic pair of jeans, they may realize or rediscover the true charm of the garment. I think more and more people will love to wear jeans through the experience, just like us who have been steeped in it since the first time we wore vintage jeans.” – Koji Shiotani, speaking to Beams Plus
A pair of faded Warehouse jeans.
Iconic Products
Lot. 1001XX (Various- season dependent)
Warehouse & Co. Lot. 1001XX Non Wash Model, available for $215 from HINOYA.
Warehouse & Co. Lot. 1001XX (1901 Model) One Wash, available for $355 from Clutch Cafe.
Warehouse & Co. Duck Digger Lot. 1001XX (1947 fit), available for $310 from Clutch Cafe.
Lot. 800XX (Standard Straight Leg)
Available from Clutch Cafe for $320.
Lot. 900XX (Slim Straight)
Available at Lost & Found for $186.
Denim Jackets
Warehouse & Co Lot. S2000XX WWII Denim Jacket, available for $405 from Clutch Cafe.
Warehouse & Co. Lot. 2003XX Type III (Early 1960s Version), available for $330 from Clutch Cafe.
Final Word
Each of the Osaka 5 companies brought a different attitude to the Japanese repro denim scene. While Fullcount, Warehouse, and Denime were fairly traditional in their outlook, Evisu and Studio D’Artisan were more experimental while nonetheless remaining faithful to the roots of vintage denim. It’s difficult to overstate the contributions these companies made to the denim community. Though Japan is known for making the world’s most innovative fabrics, at the time, none of the mills had ever made anything beyond commercial products.
These companies spearheaded a revival that reinvigorated the declining textile industry in Kurashiki and Okayama, where most of the fabric was woven and jeans constructed, and laid the foundation for numerous other companies that would push the limits of Japanese denim production. Brands like Samurai, another Osaka company, were founded several years after the others.
The Osaka 5 also laid the foundations for many other companies that would experiment with differing dyeing processes to vintage jeans such as The Flat Head and Eternal as well as companies known for slubby, textured fabrics such as The Strike Gold and Pure Blue Japan. Without the infrastructure the Osaka 5 enabled – from dyeing to weaving to sewing – these companies might never have existed in the first place. Though the world of raw denim is a much larger place than when the Osaka Five were founded, their effect is still being felt today.
