I have seen how jeans are being made at the unknown sacred place "Okayama" of the jeans world with the world's top class skills [Jeans Manufacturing Factory Edition]

Speaking of jeans, American "Levi's (Levi's)It is imagined that "Jeans = America is the real home" is a strong fashion item, but "EDWIN (Edwin)"BIG JOHN (Big John)"BOBSON (Bobson)"It is not well known that famous brand jeans of quality not to be defeated by overseas manufacturers are manufactured in Japan.

Also, this is also not well known, but the jeans technology in Japan is sophisticated enough to be told that it is "highly sophisticated so that other countries can not follow," and overseas super famous brands jeans into Japanese companies Is it often that you are asking for manufacturing and used processing?

I went to Okayama prefecture, which is said to be such an unknown jeans "sacred place", "Silicon Valley of jeans", actually watching how jeans are being made. There was a world completely different from other fashion items.

Kuroshima, Kurashiki city, Okayama prefecture, came.


Kojima is located south of Okayama city.

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When getting home it is the sea in front of you.


Just as it is said to be the sacred ground of domestic jeans, you can see the factory related to jeans from home.


A landscape that makes me uneasy as to whether there really is a jeans factory when leaving the station.




bus stop. The number of times to stop on the 1st is only 3 on weekdays and 4 on holidays.



When I was walking in the town of Kojima for a while, I found a logo factory that I have seen.


"BIG JOHN".


"BIG JOHN" which is said to have manufactured domestic jeans for the first time is also a company in Kojima. Originally a company called Maruo Clothing, it is the era of Maruo clothing that spread the domestic jeans for the first time to the world.


Traffic volume is also very small, it has become uneasy whether there really is a factory.


I found a signboard of the manufacturer that I will visit this time.



It was decided to visit here this timeBetty Smith.



I decided to have a tour soon.


I greet youBetty SmithPresident Oshima. Since 1971, since entering the jeans industry, we mainly manufacture women's jeans, and recently we also manufacture and sell jeans for men of the brand "BIG SMITH".


According to Oshima, president Kojima became known as a spinning town, when large-scale reclamation was done in the Edo period, it started to plant cotton to prevent salt damage. After the war, it grew up as a production area of ​​products such as Sanada string, TABA and student clothes, and it seems that the technology of sewing cultivated there developed into the production of jeans afterwards.

Initially, however, there seems to have been imported from the United States all sorts of cloths, threads, sewing machines, etc. without anything. On the contrary, that has become a trigger for various technological developments, and now it has developed into a town where everything related to jeans production, from cotton, clothes, sewing, washing to processing, has become known as "jeans Silicon Valley" .

I decided to show the inside of the factory immediately. This place is sewing the dough which is cut, various kinds of sewing machines are crowded together. In order to prevent back pain, the person working here kept standing all the way, with all the sewing machine operations being able to do with the lever moving with the foot.



This is the sewing machine controller. If you let your feet fall forward, you advance forward, while sewing back as you lay down sideways.


Various forms of sewing machines can be used depending on the work content.


Sewing machine to sew the edge of the buttonhole.



In order to manufacture jeans with a sense of vintage, it seems that "good taste" will not come unless tools of the old style are used, and such old sewing machines were also used. There seems to be valuable things that can not be repaired if it is broken because there is no place to manufacture and store parts anywhere now.


A spirited-in sheer paper is a thriller.


When going further back, a machine was installed to cut the fabric based on the dataized paper pattern.


The data of the paper pattern is displayed on the monitor.


This is the office which is doing new design etc. I think that it is an artisan work and the systemization is considerably advanced, and I receive the impression different from the factory the previous time. Since we brought past patterns and burned out and referred to many things, I drew a pattern paper with CAD and digitized it and saved it.


Many buttons and rivet samples are pasted.


The person in charge explained about the trend of jeans.


Unlike other fashion items, jeans are strong products of "production locality". When a new material / technology / processing method is devised, the product using it will pull the trends ... It seems that the influence of the maker is stronger than the seller. In the first place, since commitment and image to jeans are totally different from person to person, "jeans fashion" is very difficult to observe. Even though it says "This year's ○ ○ jeans is epidemic" in television and magazines etc, it seems that there is not so much change seen in the whole jeans market.

For that reason, Betty Smith seems to be trying to grasp the trend by devising a design of 1000 patterns a year, but it seems that about 10% of it actually hits, that it is only necessary to hold it for half a year. Also, since there is no big trend, making a pirated version is meaningless, and even if it is imitated, it is more efficient to make new things more and more outdated.

I looked around the window from the window. Many factories are gathered around Betty Smith, but according to President Oshima it seems that most factories are related to jeans, all the materials can be secured in the neighborhood.



Even when looking around with looking at another window, all factories related to jeans. Jeans companies currently located in Kojima range from small to large apparels that are sold under light tiger stand style, there are more than 100 domestic companies alone. However, because there is no detailed statistics, it is said that you can not grasp the full picture unless you ask the wholesaler for accurate data.


Betty Smith has created custom jeans that can be specified not only from mass production but also from fabric to design. People who saw something in the textbook of society as' jeans' production place 'created the opportunity when we visited the site, after that it was brand certified from Kurashiki city and converted into tourist resources. It seems that it is now making about 100 to 300 pieces a month.


You can touch the fabrics themselves and choose the one you like.


People who ordered custom jeans seem to be particular about fine parts, this is a button that can not be seen much in other places that were decorated with lacquer.


Quite exclusive fabrics are also used for decorating with the end of kimono. Besides, it can correspond to a considerably unusual order such as horse skin and pongee.



I did not receive orders on the net from my intention to ask the material to check with my own eyes and want to make a really convincing thing. Do you actually go to the factory or go to an agency that is about 70 in the whole country It is said that it will be made with a person. When I started custom jeans, it seems that something of a collapsed design was sometimes ordered, but now I got a better way to recommend an agency, and because the visitor's eyes have also become more discerning, I got merely strange It is said that most things are almost gone.

There were kimonos made with denim fabrics.


President Oshima seems to be planning to start from cotton growing place to pursue even more custom jeans. I am currently investigating whether I can actually make it, and I said that I would like to start even from next year as soon as possible.


A yarn that was processed at a silk mill trading cotton picked.


Betty Smith reuses the excess jeans fabric as novelty goods such as book covers and pen cases, and sells it cheaply to those who came to the factory tour. Some people will come to see this with quite good quality.




Betty Smith has a "jeans museum" where you can know the history of jeans so you may stop by and stop by and see.


Betis Miss Betty Smith (Jeans / Denim Brand) | Order Jeans order jeans

After that, we went to the factory where we introduced the president of Oshima to the used jeans processing etc etc.

· Continued
I have seen how jeans are being made at the unknown sacred place "Okayama" of the jeans world with the world's top class technology [Jeans processing plants edition]