MOMOTARO JEANS – JAPAN’S FINEST (AND MOST EXPENSIVE) DENIM FROM OKAYAMA

This video was taken inside the original Momotaro Jeans store/showroom in Kojima, a small town located in the Okayama prefecture facing west to the Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai). The area is well-known for their textile industry and is hailed as the mecca of denim in Japan. Coming from this “mecca”, Momotaro Jeans has a huge presence for sticking to traditional ways of manufacturing high quality denim and occasionally going over-the-top.

The item introduced here is a pair of Momotaro Jeans that costs 178,500 yen. This comes out to approximately 2000 U.S. Dollars or 1500 Euros with the current exchange rate. Some of you may be thinking, “That’s more expensive than the first car I owned!” For the curious, here are some of the reasons to what makes these jeans Japan’s finest and one of the most expensive today.

First, the cotton used to make the fabric goes through an extremely time-consuming process of hand-dying using only true indigo from natural plants. The denim is then woven by hand as seen in the video, on a loom that used to be used in Kyoto’s Nishijin district for weaving Kimono silks. It takes up to 8 hours to produce 1 meter (3 feet) of denim. The resulting denim is incredibly soft and flexible but at the same time very durable. The button is made of pure silver, and the back of the jeans is lined with silk. Every piece made becomes an authentic handmade “Made in Japan” garment that requires the skill of artisans.

If you aren’t bold enough to purchase this work of art but would still like a nice pair of premium Made in Japan denim jeans we have great news for you.  Momotaro makes various lines at different price points with the bottom of the line going for about $200 U.S.. which wouldn’t be considered bad at all for premium jeans by denim fans.

For anyone who may be wondering… the guy in the video isn’t me, although I’ve been to this store myself. I found the video on Youtube, user name: Japanflyer. According to his profile, he is a “foreign person living in Japan.” Thank you sir for the great video!

Made with Japan has some pictures from Kojima, so stay posted for more about Momotaro Jeans and Japanese denim.

MOMOTARO JEANS WEBSITE

日本のデニムの発祥地と呼ばれている児島の中でも質を追求しているので有名なのが桃太郎ジーンズです。このYoutubeビデオにフィーチャーされているのは桃太郎ジーンズの一番値段が高くつけられている￥178500のモデルです。不況がどうとか関係なくデニムマニアにすら中々手の届かない値段だと思いますが、なぜ高いのでしょう？作るプロセスを少し説明します。

綿はまず手間も時間もかかる藍染めの手作業から始まります。その素材がビデオに出てくるマニュアルのシャトルを使って生地を織ってきます。このシャトルは昔、京都の西陣で着物の生地を織るために使われていた物で、デニム用に改造されています。八時間かけてやっと１メートル程度の生地しか作れません。だけど結果できるのは丈夫なのに柔らかくて柔軟性のあるデニム。職人さん達の技術で出来た、質の高い本物の”Made in Japan”ジーンズに。その他に拘りがあって、シルクのライニングやボタンはシルバーで仕上げてます。

芸術作品と言ってもいいこのモデルは買えなくても、￥18000ぐらいからプライスされたモデルもあります。プレミアムジーンズとしてはリーズナブルな値段ですね。

桃太郎ジーンズのWEBSITE

Tags: denim, handmade, jeans, kojima, Made in Japan, Momotaro Jeans, okayama, premium, selvege, ももたろう, ジーンズ, デニム, ランプ屋, 児島, 岡山, 桃太郎, 藍染め