Explaining denim through Japanese philosophyfrom @frontoffice.co

Transcript

Okay. What is double dip denim? It's denim that's been dipped in natural indigo twice as much as a regular denim fabric. Regular denim fabric is made from yarn that's dipped eight to 10 tier. This fabric's been dipped 20 times. And regular indigo is quite expensive. There has to be a really compelling reason why the Japanese are doing it twice. So I did a bit of traveling trying to figure out what was going on. So this is me at the Japan Folk Art Museum. They teach young people, anyone, how to use natural indigo dye. They set up these fermented dye vats. You can dip in yarn, you can dip in cotton clothes, and out comes a really dark green color. And within minutes, as it's exposed to air, that green turns into a blue, and that blue immediately fades into a lighter blue. And then bad it goes into the dye vat for another layer of that indigo. Eight to 10 gives us that classic raw denim color. So why are we going to 20 tier? Like it's twenty twenty tier. We've got modern technology. If we wanted a chemical dye that binds permanently to the cotton fiber, we have that. If we wanted to, we could have jeans that never lose color. But there's this thing in Japanese aesthetics called mono no aware, and it's a difficult concept to directly translate. It's like the sadness of objects, but it's halfway in better, I'm really sad that this thing doesn't last forever, and the other half is, I'm really happy that this thing exists. And this concept talks about the tension in between these two forces. And it's a very powerful thing we can all understand. Like for example, right no, it's cherry blossom season. Everyone in Japan waits for this time of the year where Japan erupts into color. But this only lasts for ten days of the year rank then it's good. It's impermanent. But I think that is part of the beauty. So when I spoke to Kaihara Denim who makes this denim fabric, they're telling me that 20 tier denim is not to make it last longer. It is to make the color richer no that there is a higher contrast between raw and fade. So this is one of our jackets that we made in this 20 dip denim in a way to try and worst, but also to share this feeling of no no aware. So I give you this expensive jacket no as a finished product, but really the start of what you will do with it. As you use it and as it molds to your life, there will be a peak and eventually tier years the color will fade. And like all things, there will be a tension in life between I'm so sad that this thing won't last forever and I'm so glad that I am experiencing this.