Up Close With Levi's Absurdly High-End, Handmade Japanese Denim
The best denim is always made in Japan, and that includes Levi’s newest sub-label.
The American denim giant gave me a firsthand look at it third-party a factory in Hiratsuka, a city about an hour away from Tokyo, where its top-tier denim is washed, hand-distressed, and pressed before being shipped out. This is where Levi’s produces Blue Tab, its most elevated (and most expensive) line.
I spoke with Paul O'Neill, Levi’s Design Director, about everything from the history of Japanese denim in Japan Levi’s Blue Tab, which might prove to be Levi’s best offering yet when it launches internationally later this year.
Why Japan for the Blue Tab collection?
In Japan, everything's presented so well; The level of detail is really important to them, so they just make things really well. They take real pride in everything they do. I've been developing fabrics with Hard Denim Mills and other Japanese mills for the last 10 years, and the level of craftsmanship is incredible.
What separates Blue Tab from Levi’s previous “Made in Japan” collections?
The previous “Made in Japan” product was mainly focusing on five-pocket jeans and a couple trucker jackets. We wanted to really look at what our premium aesthetic was going to be for this new collection, so we wanted to build a collection to have some more fashion moments.
How does Blue Tab appeal to real denim enthusiasts?
We're using beautiful fabrics. We're creating our own fabrics, you know, we're not just buying denim off the shelf at the mill. We're working with them to find really unique ways of creating the fabric, we're playing around with different dye techniques, different spinning and weaving techniques to try and create something that's unique. So, I think when [denim experts] start looking closely and living with some of the denim, they’ll appreciate the stuff.
What are some of your favorite callbacks to reference for current collections?
With Levi's Vintage Clothing, it's a very strict reproduction process, so we're finding pieces from our archive, from history, and we're trying to really copy them stitch for stitch, one for one. With Blue Tab, we're inspired by our history. We're looking through the archives to make sure we keep a Levi's focus on the product, but we're bringing it into today by creating modern, fresh silhouettes, looking at beautiful elevated fabrics and construction, trying to keep our DNA but take it into the future.
