HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing you all the best in 2024.

 

This is our first post for 2024, so we would like to get back to basics and write about selvedge denim.

 

[ What is selvedge? ]

In the case of denim fabrics, the warp yarn is often white & color to assert their presence.

This is so-called famous "Red ear". (Red on white)

When it comes to jeans, it is the outseam of both legs.

 

[ Why is selvedge there? ]

That is difference in fabric, fabrics woven on modern weaving machines (innovation looms) do not have selvedges, while fabrics woven on old-style power looms (shuttle looms) do.

When you rolled up hems of jeans, you can see some have selvedges on the outseam and some do not.

 

[ What is shuttle loom? ]

It is an old power loom,

TOYODA/GL-9 (in-house weaving mill)

 

A wooden tube with a weft yarns wound on it is equipped on a component called a shuttle, and the weft yarn is passed between the warp yarns to weave the fabric.

It is called a shuttle because the weft yarns back and forth.

Shuttle

 

Wooden tube

 

The weft yarns move to the left and right, so they are connected and the edges of the fabric do not fray.

The production speed of old looms is slower than that of innovative looms, at about 1 roll (50 m) per day (with innovative looms, it is possible to weave more than 150 m per day).

Although the production efficiency is lower than that of the innovative loom, but the surface has an uneven feel due to the looser beating, and this feature gives the fabric a vintage look "Atari" (aging).

 

[ The characteristics and charm of selvedge denim. ]

As mentioned earlier, there are both old and innovative looms, it has been improved to produce more productive, consistent, and stable quality fabrics.
Generally speaking, fabrics woven on innovative looms are considered to be of higher quality with fewer defects.

However, the perception of denim is slightly different. Selvedge denim woven on old power looms, which is less productive, more expensive, less stable, and easily prone to flaws, is recognized as the best denim, and especially selvedge denim made in Japan is regarded as the best denim in the world.

The faded color of selvedge denim, which has a rough feel, had become popular due to the vintage clothing trend, but the accompanying shortage has caused prices to rise, and difficult to obtain vintage jeans even if you wanted them.

As a solution, the company attempted to revive vintage denim by reactivating shuttle looms that had once been replaced by innovative weaving machines.

Further exploration has produced vintage denim that is "more real than the real".

 

In other words,

While technology continues to advance and productivity continues to improve, selvedge denim is woven using old-fashioned looms that seem to go against the times.

We consider the features that are generally regarded as flaw, such as uneven look, dye transfer, and color fading, as attractive, and updates them to correspond to the present day through further exploration and technological improvement.

The current selvedge denim, which is more attractive and less flawed, is evolving day by day to surpass the vintage denim.

In this blog, we have briefly explained about selvedge denim.

 

Not only selvedge denim, but also fabrics woven with innovation and fabrics other than denim, JBJ's products are made of fabrics as attractive as selvedge.

We will continue to update new products in 2024, so look forward to it!