Ridges that don’t flatten, and the color of the bottle.

 

Corduroy trousers have been around for as long as anyone can remember.

When autumn and winter arrive, they appear in stores, looking vaguely warm and a little dowdy. I imagine there are few people who have never worn them.

Well, they are ordinary trousers.

And yet, precisely because they are ordinary, they are difficult to make.

Add an unusual design, and the difference is immediately apparent. But that was not what I wanted to create.

How good could we make a completely ordinary pair of corduroy trousers?

That is where I began.

 

Good evening. I am Matsushima from cantáte.

 

Today, I am writing about Warm Corduroy Trousers.

The appeal of corduroy lies, after all, in its ribs.

The softness you feel when you touch it. The shadows and highlights that change with the direction of the light. The warmth associated with autumn and winter is created by those ribs as well.

Still, with continued wear, the ribs at the thighs, knees, and seat gradually collapse.

That too is a characteristic form of corduroy's aging.

But if we were going to the trouble, we did not want a fabric that simply collapsed and came to an end.

Even after it has been thoroughly worn in, we want the beautiful ribs to remain for as long as possible.

To that end, we packed in the maximum possible number of weft threads.

By inserting the weft at high density, the pile is firmly held from its base. Rather than creating softness solely from the surface fibers, we strengthened the foundation that supports them.

Soft, yet resistant to giving out.

Put simply, that is the kind of fabric it is.

It has the characteristic softness of corduroy to the touch, yet the ribs do not collapse easily even with everyday wear.

Visual beauty and durability as a pair of trousers.

We brought both qualities into a single fabric.

That does not mean it stays new forever, either.

If anything, this is where corduroy becomes truly interesting.

The thighs and pocket openings that receive the most friction gradually lose a little color, while whiskers emerge behind the knees and around the crotch. Because the ridges and valleys of the ribs reflect light differently, gradations absent at the beginning of wear gradually appear.

It does not make a statement with fading as clearly as denim does.

But corduroy worn for several years has a kind of appeal that cannot be achieved when new.

The ribs thin out, the pile settles, and the wearer's movements remain in the fabric.

Personally, I do not think corduroy is a fabric chosen solely for its warmth or softness.

The aging looks great.

Actually, I want people to know more about that.

Incidentally, these days, corduroy woven thin from the outset is increasingly being called “summer corduroy.”

Of course, I think that is also valid as clothing for today.

However, the summer corduroy I have in mind is a little different.

Corduroy first worn in winter is subjected to repeated friction and washing, its ribs thin out, and it becomes wearable in summer.

That is summer corduroy.

Rather than wearing a thin fabric made for summer from the outset, you take a pair bought in winter and, through your own body and the passage of time, turn it into summer clothing.

That is what I prefer.

In winter, you feel the warmth of the pile, and by the time spring arrives, the fabric gradually begins to mold to your body. Keep wearing it, and the ribs thin out, until by summer it can be worn with a T-shirt.

Rather than changing clothes whenever the seasons change, a single garment moves on to the next season through the passage of time.

I think the things people once called “summer corduroy” included that passage of time as well.

This fabric has a high pile-retention rate, so it will not thin out easily after only a few wears.

So there is no need to rush.

Rather than collapsing all at once, the ribs gradually settle in while retaining their beautiful shape. Along the way, whiskers and wear patterns emerge, giving each pair its own distinct character.

This is not a fabric made solely with the perfection of its new condition in mind. It was made with an image of how it will look several years from now.

The ribs are neither too fine nor too wide.

Finer ribs look more refined, but become a little too delicate. Make them wider, on the other hand, and the character of corduroy suddenly comes to the fore.

The same goes for the brushed texture.

It feels soft to the touch. But even visually, it does not make the pile feel too prominent.

It can look casual, yet it also has a polished side.

We aimed for the middle ground with considerable care.

The silhouette is wide straight.

Rather than tapering at the knees or flaring out at the hem, they fall straight from the waist.

Corduroy has more than enough character in the fabric itself.

So I felt there was no need to add anything through the silhouette.

The waist area is properly kept in proportion.

Making everything oversized simply because they are wide-leg trousers would result in trousers that are merely oversized.

The waist is kept neat, with fullness retained below it.

We refined them to minimize unnecessary creasing and make the back view look clean as well.

From the front, they are simple wide-straight trousers.

From the side or back, the fabric falls naturally.

There is nothing unusual about them.

We have continually adjusted the finer details so they appear as though nothing has been done.

 

The colors are NOIR, BROWN, BOTTLE GREEN.

<cantáte>

" Warm Corduroy Trousers "

COL : NOIR , BROWN , BOTTLE GREEN

¥77,000TAX IN

 

NOIR is the color in which the shading of the corduroy appears most quietly.

Even when it looks solid black, variations in shade emerge depending on the direction of the wales and how the light falls. As the trousers are worn in and the tips of the wales develop wear, even finer color differences appear within the black.

BROWN is a color that lets you directly appreciate the characteristic warmth of corduroy.

I did not want a brown that would make them look like vintage clothing. We have toned down the earthy quality slightly so they naturally blend with black and gray clothing.

And so, the cliché custom BOTTLE GREEN.

When I was considering a custom color, the light-blocking bottles used for whiskey and beer came to mind.

Not a vivid green, but a deep green close to black.

It looks dark indoors, but when light passes through it, green suddenly appears. I thought it would look great to express that feeling through the wales of corduroy.

The color of light-blocking bottles is chosen to protect their contents from light.

There is a clear reason it has become this color.

That was something I liked, too.

To me, a color born of purpose looks more beautiful than one created solely for decoration.

When we actually made the fabric, it looked close to black indoors, while green emerged from between the wales when exposed to outdoor light.

They look less severe than black and do not project the warmth of brown as strongly.

Depending on what you wear them with, they can look black or green.

It is a color that seems like it should exist, yet is surprisingly hard to find.

These trousers work with knitwear, shirts, and jackets alike.

Wear a sweatshirt and they become an ordinary weekend outfit; pair them with leather shoes and a jacket, and they take on the look of proper slacks.

Once you've worn them through summer, a white T-shirt and sandals will do.

These are not trousers meant to be the centerpiece of an outfit.

Yet when choosing clothes in the morning, your hand reaches for them almost instinctively.

They do not make a statement, but they never look careless.

With trousers like these, their appeal becomes clearer after passing through one season than at the moment you buy them.

Sit in a chair, walk through the city, put your hands in your pockets.

Wash it, dry it, and wear it again.

Through that repetition, the fabric gradually learns its wearer's habits.

Even so, the wales do not flatten easily.

It retains the time spent wearing it, while the beauty of the corduroy remains.

A pair bought for winter carries on through spring and eventually becomes summer corduroy.

I wonder what kind of green this BOTTLE GREEN will have become by then.

cantáte Matsushima Shin