Visiting Ooe Yofukuten & Co.

Two weeks ago I visited Ryo and Hiro of Ooe Yofukuten in their atelier in Nagoya. It was an interesting experience, meeting two very dedicated individuals and see how they make their jeans and how much effort they put into it.

Their atelier is located in a small warehouse on the outskirts of Ichinomya. The house is shared with the family's box making business but once you step inside, there's no doubt that this is a house of denim.
Greeting you inside is a stack of samples of jeans they've made and various other things like an old shuttle from a wide loom and inspirational photographies.

Can you spot my gift?


There's also the custom built display frame that will be given to the winner of Ooe Yofukuten's first fading contest.

Walk a little further and you'll see the small brand's collection of vintage sewing machines. All of the machinery, except for the one used for riveting, they use for making jeans is vintage.
Most notable is a German Union Special chainstitching machine and a 1920's belt loop machine.
The latter is one hundred percent vintage, down to the spare parts and even the oil used to lubricate it!
With this equipment Ryo and Hiro makes the jeans all by themselves from start to finish, cranking out just one pair a day.


1920s belt loop machine.


Union Special on the right.


Attaching rivets and buttons.

There's also the rolls of denim and other fabrics. Ooe buys only deadstock fabric from a mill in Okayama which is why once one of their choices of fabric is gone, it's gone. The quantities they buy of each fabric is very limited and is enough for as few as three to twenty pairs of jeans.


I looked through most of their denim and have a few favourites. Unfortunately I can't disclose which they are as they might run out then, and I'm waiting to order one of the new models which are made available when Ooe has received their new machines.
The denims are fairly similar though, almost all of them are going for authenticity rather than innovation. It's hard to determine which fabric is 'best' by just looking at raw samples and since their not that different from eachother, I would suggest you make you decision based on something like weight or color(dark or light etc.)

The opportunity here to make you own custom jean is unique. Not only can you choose your own denim but you can also decide on which rivets and buttons to use. It's also possible to design your own backpockets and, I believe, get a customized patch.
It doesn't stop there. If you're not happy with what history has to offer you can even mix and match the decades--if you like tighter cuts but want the detailing of mid-century Levi's, it's possible to get a '70s cut with '50s detailing.

For inspiration when making more original products like the Double Knee overalls or the 1850s Logger overalls, Ooe has a large amount of magazines like Lightning, Free & Easy and old Boon.
They also have rare books like "Denim", My Freedamn! and old American catalogs from as early as 1900 and 1902.





The 01XX, 1947-1951 501 model, cut is made with an early '50s 501 as a base. The cut up original was used to get the pattern for this model.



The backpockets are shaped slightly differently.

I compared my pair of 1101XXs to the once again sewn together original of roughly the same size and the result was pleasing. There are a few millimetres of difference here and there between the two, but all in all this is a very good replica, especially considering that there were large variations between individual 501s at the time.
As for the denim, it's very close too. It's very toned down and not trying to be innovative as some other Japanese brands. If innovation is good or bad is for everyone to decide by themselves but right now I'm personally more interested in a vintage type denim that will work together with my real vintage garments(I can't afford to buy real vintage jeans just yet, so I opt for reproductions).
The No. 11 denim has more slightly more vertical unevenness or striation than the original, which in my mind makes it look a little more like a mid-to-late fifties pair, but it does not bother me.


All in all, I'm very happy with my pair. Ryo even showed me details I had no knowledge of before, like how the fabric for the backpockets is cut and folded before attaching the hidden rivets. This is different between WW2 501s and the '47-'51 era 501s and is replicated correctly on the 01 model. The correct type of UFO rivet is also used here.


I find that the backpockets even wear 'realistically' thanks to this. See the comparison below of the area around the hidden rivet:

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Here's my pair of AG1101XX compared to a new pair. I've worn my pair for about 4.5 months and washed twice by hand, twice in machine.



As you can see there's not much in the ways of honeycombs, and I have no hopes of them developing either. Defined honeycombs require infrequent washing and stiff denim. You pretty much need to wear your jeans for 4-6 months between each wash to get sharp honeycombs and I'm washing more and more frequently. This denim is also not very starchy and 'just' 13.5 ounce.
I've barely seen any vintage Levi's with pronounced honeycombing though and I attribute this to how they were treated, basically washed a lot.

The all-yellow stitching brings my thoughts to Levi's jeans during the WW2 era. It will be interesting to compare these jeans to the ones Inoue was wearing.


Ryo and Hiro have worn their jeans a bit longer than I have. Ryo on the right is wearing the 402XX and Hiro is wearing a pair made from the #11 denim. She's worn them for about 6 months and washed them once every or every other week. The denim certainly doesn't get ruined by washing, it actually just gets better with wear and washing. Washing fairly frequently is also necessary if you want to get a fade that looks authentic.

Old Ooe samples. The right-most picture is of a sample in unknown denim next to the original Levi's. The denim is very close to the original.

Harajuku Streets: Coverall

Another vintage lover I've met on the streets of Harajuku is Hide. As I've come to expect now, he only wears vintage. This day he was wearing a Can't Bust 'Em, an old sub-line of Lee, denim coverall and a leather backpack of unknown make. So simple, but it hardly gets better than this.


Hide is 26 and has been into vintage for about 5 years. He's also a hairdresser, a common profession for people who get their picture taken because of what they wear here. Hairdressers are actually some of the biggest trendsetters here!





Thanks Hide!

TAROCK with ricco, Ura-Harajuku

It has suprised me how high and consistent the level of the vintage stores here are, in terms of both goods and the atmosphere of the interior. In many stores there's literally a thousand little things lieing around for you to look at and they all create such an intriguing world.

TAROCK with ricco is one of those stores that maintain a high level in all areas. Pretty much every shop here carries American vintage from the first half of the twentieth century but they all have a slightly different profile.
This shop does have some workwear pieces but isn't focused on it. I'd say it's more of a casual and sometimes dressy store that also has small odd items and accessories. TWR also has many quirky one-off items that you won't find elsewhere.

One of the owners, Kentaro, is also a person who has inspired me a lot here in Tokyo. He wears mostly vintage but a lot of the time in his own way, like very oversized workpants and a workshirt with unpatched holes like shown below.
Akiko is equally great as an inspiration if you're a female.

Akiko and Kentaro.

I feel that this makes vintage even more interesting since it's a way of making it your own based on how you wear it and with what. The looks are not what you could find in a photo of the '40s and I appreciate that even though I'm also a fan of authenticity. There's just so many people into vintage here, it is a 'trend' or maybe rather 'style' for sure, so I like to see individuality and creativity.
Kentaro also wears designer stuff like that of Margiela together with these old pieces. I'm not a fan of designer clothing in general but I find that it works for Kentaro.
Partly because of him I now not only like vintage but also find myself appreciating more ecclectic pieces and ways to dress.


Let's have a look around inside TAROCK with ricco!





A thousand lil things!







The women's side is just as good as the men's.




Wonderful flower print Lees on the right. Items like these are why I like this shop so much.




More traditional Americana items can also be found here.

There really isn't any reason to buy replicas when you have vintage shops like this. The deadstock flannels are great and can generally be had for less than a new shirt. I prefer worn out ones though and they're even less expensive! They can usually be had for 3000-6000 yen(which used to be $30-$60, but now it's a bit more. I don't even want to think about how much the price has changed for us Europeans..).



A one wash denim workshirt from the early '50s and a brand that I had never heard of before-- Fly's. The tag alone makes me want it.





It seems that robes are coming out big this spring in vintage Tokyo. I want to wear one too when it gets warmer and this is the one I want!

By the end of this post you probably got it--if you go to Tokyo, don't miss TAROCK with ricco! I will keep posting my favourite vintage shops here, next up is ZOOL or 3DAM.