This video was taken inside the original Momotaro Jeans store/showroom in Kojima, a small town located in the Okayama prefecture facing west to the Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai). The area is well-known for their textile industry and is hailed as the mecca of denim in Japan. Coming from this “mecca”, Momotaro Jeans has a huge presence for sticking to traditional ways of manufacturing high quality denim and occasionally going over-the-top.
The item introduced here is a pair of Momotaro Jeans that costs 178,500 yen. This comes out to approximately 2000 U.S. Dollars or 1500 Euros with the current exchange rate. Some of you may be thinking, “That’s more expensive than the first car I owned!” For the curious, here are some of the reasons to what makes these jeans Japan’s finest and one of the most expensive today.
First, the cotton used to make the fabric goes through an extremely time-consuming process of hand-dying using only true indigo from natural plants. The denim is then woven by hand as seen in the video, on a loom that used to be used in Kyoto’s Nishijin district for weaving Kimono silks. It takes up to 8 hours to produce 1 meter (3 feet) of denim. The resulting denim is incredibly soft and flexible but at the same time very durable. The button is made of pure silver, and the back of the jeans is lined with silk. Every piece made becomes an authentic handmade “Made in Japan” garment that requires the skill of artisans.
If you aren’t bold enough to purchase this work of art but would still like a nice pair of premium Made in Japan denim jeans we have great news for you. Momotaro makes various lines at different price points with the bottom of the line going for about $200 U.S.. which wouldn’t be considered bad at all for premium jeans by denim fans.
For anyone who may be wondering… the guy in the video isn’t me, although I’ve been to this store myself. I found the video on Youtube, user name: Japanflyer. According to his profile, he is a “foreign person living in Japan.” Thank you sir for the great video!
Made with Japan has some pictures from Kojima, so stay posted for more about Momotaro Jeans and Japanese denim.