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Japanese Denim 13 7oz Indigo Cotton Woven Jeans Fabric Roll

Japanese Denim

Japanese denim has a reputation that most cloth never earns. Woven on traditional shuttle looms by mills that have kept old techniques going long after everyone else moved on, it comes out denser and more characterful than modern high-speed denim, and it fades with wear in a way that's genuinely its own. This is a small, carefully chosen selection rather than a broad range. Order a sample to feel it.
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Ask anyone serious about denim where the best cloth comes from and you'll get the same answer. When American mills moved to faster projectile looms in the mid twentieth century, Japanese mills bought up the old shuttle looms and carried on. Those looms are slow, they're narrow, and they're temperamental, but they weave denim with a slightly irregular, textured surface that modern machinery makes too evenly to replicate. That texture is what fades into the high-contrast patterns denim enthusiasts collect.

The rest of the difference is in the detail. Japanese denim is typically woven from long-staple cotton, which gives a cloth that's soft to the hand but sturdy, and the indigo dyeing is done slowly and repeatedly, often with natural indigo, building a deep colour that sits on the surface of the yarn rather than penetrating it. That's the trick behind the fading: as the surface indigo wears away at the creases, the white core beneath shows through, so the garment records how you actually wore it. Add the shuttle loom's finished selvedge edge and you have cloth that's become collectable in its own right.

What we stock

This is a focused collection rather than a wide one, so it's worth being clear about that upfront. Availability moves as cloth comes and goes, and the weight and shade of what's here is listed on the product page. If you want a broader choice of heavier cloth right now, the heavyweight denim collection is where to look, and it includes selvedge and raw options.

Sewing Japanese denim

Treat it as you would any quality heavyweight denim. Use a denim or jeans needle in a 100 or 110 and a longer stitch length, and slow right down where the seams stack up rather than forcing the machine. Contrast topstitching is traditional and structural. If it's raw, expect shrinkage on the first wash and expect indigo to transfer onto lighter fabrics and furniture in the early weeks, which is normal for the cloth rather than a fault. Check the individual product page for weight, width and the specific care guidance.

Getting the fades

The reason people buy this cloth is the way it ages, and that takes patience. The conventional approach is to wear raw denim as long as is decent before the first wash, so the creases set where your body puts them, then wash sparingly and inside out. There's no single right method and denim forums will argue about it indefinitely. Whatever route you take, follow the care guidance on the individual product page rather than any general rule.

Related collections

For a wider choice of heavier cloth, including selvedge and raw, see heavyweight denim, or browse all denim fabrics for every weight we stock. Patterns are in trouser and shorts patterns.

What makes Japanese denim different?

Mostly the looms. Japanese mills kept the traditional shuttle looms that the rest of the industry replaced with faster machinery, and those looms weave a denser cloth with a slightly irregular surface that modern denim doesn't have. Combine that with long-staple cotton and slow, repeated indigo dyeing and you get denim that fades with far more character than evenly-woven modern cloth.

Is Japanese denim always selvedge?

Very often, because the shuttle looms that make it produce a finished self-edge as a by-product of how they weave. It isn't a rule, though, and the two terms describe different things: selvedge is about the edge and the loom, Japanese is about where it was woven. Check the individual product page for the specifics of what you're buying.

Why is Japanese denim more expensive?

Shuttle looms are slow and produce a narrower width, so the same length of cloth takes considerably longer to weave and yields less usable fabric. Add long-staple cotton and a slower dyeing process and the cost adds up. What you're paying for is density, character and the way it ages, rather than a brand name.

How should I wash Japanese denim?

Sparingly and inside out is the conventional advice, particularly with raw denim, where the aim is to let creases set before the first wash. Expect shrinkage on that first wash and expect indigo to transfer onto lighter fabrics early on. There's no universal method, so follow the care guidance on the individual product page.

How much do you stock?

This is a small, focused selection rather than a broad range, and what's available changes as cloth comes and goes. If you need more choice of heavier cloth today, our heavyweight denim collection carries a wider range, including selvedge and raw options.

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