Good evening. This is Matsushima from cantáte.

I received requests to write about denim jackets as well, so I gave it a try.

That said, I was thinking there wasn’t much to write about compared with jeans, when I thought, “Maybe it would be interesting to present them in contrast?” So I’m introducing them here.

This time, the denim jacket photos are of my personal pieces,The 3rd Trucker Jacket for about three months, and the 1st T-Back Jacket for about a yearWould that be it? Both are worn starched, soThe wear patterns are sharp.I think.

There is also the pleasure of wearing it without starch and allowing it to fade naturally, but starching it before wear brings out three-dimensional creases and sharp wear patterns, which is another fascinating aspect.

If you want to learn about starching, try searching for “denim starching”!

From here,the 3rd type Trucker Jacket, which pursued the beauty of tailoring to its fullestandThe 1st type WWII T-Back Jacket, which transformed imperfections into beauty, let’s look at the two while comparing them.

When someone mentions a denim jacket, this may be the shape that first comes to everyone’s mind.

The so-called “3rd type”. The V-shaped yokes running across the front and the well-balanced pocket placement.

It spread as the standard from the 1960s onward and remains so universal that even today, this is what people mean when they say, “When you think of a denim jacket, this is it.”

It is a detail that symbolizes an era when the ruggedness of workwear receded into the background and it became more refined as an industrial product.

・Refined collar stitching

The stitch density is relatively fine, sewn with orange-toned cotton thread.

 

・Matching-fabric back flap

There were periods when lightweight denim was used, but this deliberately uses matching fabric.

 

・Sharp-angled V stitching

Because chain stitching cannot be backstitched, it needs to be secured with a lockstitch.

 

・Chain stitching attaching the waistband

Please remember this yellow stitch-thread color.

 

・The hem tab and front V-shaped yoke that I like on the 3rd type

I prefer this V-shaped yoke to be narrower at the hem.

 

 

What cantáte undertook was to elevate that level of finish even further.

The precision of the pattern, the rhythm of the stitching, and the way the seam allowances are settled. Every detail has been refined, giving it the elegance associated with tailored clothing.

It is tailored in a way that makes you want to describe denim itself as “beautiful.”

On the other hand, even among the same denim jackets, the “1st type” is entirely different.

A wide placket, with a chest pocket on one side only. Sometimes, because of the available fabric width, a seam was added across the back, resulting in what was known as a “T-back”.

Originally, these were merely manufacturing “variations” or “unavoidable circumstances.” In a sense, they were close to custom-made pieces.

Even so, it was precisely in that unevenness that the atmosphere of the time and a powerful appeal resided.

 

・Collar stitching

The relatively fine stitch density highlights the three-dimensional texture unique to cotton thread. With the seam allowance neatly settled, it creates a refined collar.

 

The stitching on the right collar is beautiful.

・Left collar stitching

If you look closely and think, “Huh?”, you’ll notice that it has been sewn twice—and the stitching even meanders slightly.

Although there may be slight variations because it is done by hand, every piece is made by hand to give the A-grade garment a “B-grade feel”.

 

・Front pleat-securing box stitching

You can probably tell because a ruler has been placed there, but can you see that it is offset by roughly one pleat?

In modern clothing, alignment is the norm, but being offset feels more vintage, and it evokes the atmosphere of garments sewn by the local women pressed into service at the time, so we deliberately do it this way.

 

・Box stitching securing the pleat on the left front

The stitching overlaps on top.

 

・Box stitching securing the pleat on the right front

The right front overlaps underneath.

“What? You change them?”—Yes, we do.

Because this way is easier to sew.

Aligning them with an overlap on top or underneath would have been far more troublesome.

People at the time must have felt the same way, and there must have been pieces like that.

・Uneven V-shaped stitching

Where it would normally be sewn in a straight, even line, we deliberately sew it at an offset angle.

That deviation from symmetry is precisely what gives it the feel of vintage.

 

・Waist chain stitching

Unlike the 3rd type shown earlier, can you see that a little black is visible?

No one could see the reverse side, so any color would do. As long as it was sewn, that was enough. Better still if it was an unobtrusive black.

I believe they must have kept sewing during the war for precisely such reasons.

Even so,Only the stitching on the front remained—even if the flap was removed, the pocket remained, and the rivets remained—

The reality of the time comes through in the coexistence of such compromise and tenacity.

 

・C-shaped stitching at the cuffs

Those who have followed this far may already have noticed, but unlike the 3rd type, the 1st type uses yellow stitching.

Because it is being worn,Even the laurel buttons have worn down, bringing out the character of the base beneath.

 

・Uneven cinch-back stitching

Rather than perfectly straight lines, there is character in lines that are just slightly distorted.

While preserving functionality, the adjustments made by human hands remain imprinted, and that vintage unevenness becomes part of its appeal.

 

・Needle cinch buckle

We use both copper plating and nickel plating.

Both gradually wear down with use, revealing the character of the metal itself.

Moreover, precisely because it was wartime, local grandmothers were called in to help, and it is this unevenness from being sewn by amateurs that gives it the force and earthy character of vintage.

At cantáte, that roughness is not left as mere reproduction; every stitch and deviation is carefully reworked, bringing it to completion as an A-grade piece.

It reconstructs, through a modern tailoring perspective, the reality of that era: “accepting imperfection.”

This is a denim jacket that embraces the deliberately retained “distortion” as an aesthetic choice.

 

・Offset sleeve seam allowances

The sleeve seams of a denim jacket can be very painful because the seam allowances press into the sides,

The sleeve seams are offset so they do not cause discomfort.

It is intentional.

 

・The difference of one stitch

In fact, different sewing machines are used for the 3rd and 1st types.

A difference of one stitch, but the orange 3rd type uses a sewing machine with a heavier gauge.

 

 

3rd and 1st.

On one side, a beautifully refined finished form; on the other, an original form that preserves its rawness.

Moving between those two extremes reveals the depth of the denim jacket as a garment.

The two models cantáte worked on are neither mere reproductions nor decorative reinterpretations.

We pursued the question of “why was it made this way?” and, while taking on its entire background, reworked it into a garment that speaks to the present day.

In a single line of stitching, in the slight differences in overlapping layers—within such details live the atmosphere of the time and the traces of human hands.

At first glance, it may seem like a garment bound by its era, but follow the details and something universal emerges.

That is precisely why I believe there is meaning in putting it on again today.

 

cantáte 松島 紳