long vowel mark (usually only used in katakana)

mountain range:

Takehiko Maruyama is the director of "Sanca," a company that offers products that are in tune with the current era by using the archives of the good old days and Japanese advanced technology. He has long been active on the front lines of the Japanese fashion scene, having served as chief buyer for a major boutique in the past. Mr. Maruyama's proposal for "The Third Edition" is a cut-and-sewn work shirt. His sense of arrangement by using different materials is a marvelous example. We learned how important materials are for clothing.

Big Yank meets beige chambray shirt

Please tell us about your first encounter with Big Yank.

mountain rangeI learned about the brand while visiting vintage clothing stores. The first "Big Yank" shirt I bought was a beige chambray shirt with a mess pocket that I got at a vintage clothing store in Koenji over 15 years ago. I remember I really liked the color. I still own it today.

Beige is especially rare. Nowadays, beige is almost unheard of.

mountain rangeI was looking for a chambray shirt that wasn't indigo, and I stumbled across this shirt and fell in love with it the moment I saw it. When I was a buyer at BEAMS, I asked Toyo Enterprises to make a special order based on this item. It was available in two colors, mocha and red.

It is true that Mr. Maruyama has an image of chambray shirts.

mountain rangeYes, chambray is one of my favorite fabrics. Sanka also makes chambray shirts as a standard item.

Exquisite arrangements that bring out the best of the original design while showcasing the wonders of the materials used.

But this time, Big Yank dares to use a chambray-style cut-and-sew fabric, doesn't it?

mountain rangeWhen I was first approached about this project, I didn't want to make any changes to the "Big Yank" design, because, you see, it's already finished. You see, it was already completed, right?　That's why I thought it would be better to replace the materials with new ones, without changing the design too much. However, there was nothing interesting about using ordinary fabrics. That's when I came up with Sanka's five-pocket pants made of lined fabric, which were released in the fall/winter 2004 season. I decided to take advantage of this material's "transposed" feel for this project as well, and incorporated indigo jersey into the shirts.

That's good timing. What's more, it's a very Maruyama-like approach.

mountain rangeI have always liked to use different fabrics. For example, using cut and sewn fabrics for tailored jackets. I often make products with basic shapes but interesting fabrics for my brand.

It's an interesting idea that's both easy to understand and clever.

mountain rangeHowever, it is surprisingly difficult to make. Cut-and-sew and shirt fabrics have different sewing factories that specialize in them. The softness of the fabric is different, and the sewing process is also different, so having a shirt factory sew a cut-and-sew garment requires a great deal of skill. To give a soft texture a firm shape is a more difficult task than one might think. However, the factory that undertakes "BIG YANK" has the skills, so we could entrust them with the work with confidence. Looking at the background of the factory, I could sense the commitment of Thirty-Five Summers (the Big Yank agency that initiated this project) to their products.

It seems that the shrinkage rate is also different between cut-and-sew and chambray, doesn't it?

mountain rangeThe sizing is set to the shrunken state by calculating the shrinkage rate. So there is absolutely no need to worry that the garment will be too small to wear after you buy it.

How do you frankly feel about the finished shirts?

mountain rangeI like it because it's even better than I thought it would be. To be honest, I even want to do it under my own brand (laughs).

Denim-like fading due to yarn-dyed indigo yarn

The color fades wonderfully, by the way.

mountain rangeThe yarn itself is 30 twin, yarn-dyed indigo jersey used for denim and chambray. It is quite a luxurious and good fabric. This color fading is exactly thanks to the yarn-dyed indigo yarn. The center of the yarn is not dyed, so when washed, the white part of the yarn comes out, giving it a denim-like appearance.

I see, so that's why you insisted on yarn-dyed indigo yarn. Do you think the one-washed version will actually look like this processed model when worn?

mountain rangeThe color of the fabric should become quite nice after about a year of frequent wear, depending on the frequency of use, of course. At first, the color will fade quite a bit each time it is washed, so it is best not to wash it with white items when washing. Once the color has fallen to this processed model, though, I don't think there is any concern about color migration.

Lastly, what would you recommend for this shirt?

mountain range: Because it has such a realistic look, I would wear it like a chambray shirt. From a distance, you wouldn't be able to tell it's a cut-and-sew, would you? It's a basic design, so I think it goes with a lot of different outfits. Because it is a cut-and-sew, it is comfortable, and I want people to wear it casually.