Tanuki HKR Heavy Kusaki 19.5oz Regular Jeans

Tanuki did this fabric as a limited 14oz edition in 2020, and they still get loads of requests for it. So the Kusaku fabric is bringing it back on steroids. 19.5oz, very slubby, incredible texture with green and yellow neps, and a very unique fading potential. The weft is naturally dyed with pomegranate rinds and is truly one of a kind. The cotton for both warp and weft is a mix of Texas and Australian cotton for a great compromise of rough and soft.

The Kusaki fabric gets its name from a very traditional Japanese dyeing technique: Kusakizome. Given the labour-intensive process of dyeing the yarns in a natural dye like Kusakizome, only a small production lot of these jeans can be made. The vegetable dyes used come from the skin of the pomegranate grown south of Japan’s main island, along with some iron to achieve that extra-light shade of green. The warp threads are surface-dyed with indigo in a rope dyeing machine. The threads are dipped into pure indigo seven times to get a deep shade of blue that will nonetheless bleed indigo quickly. This fabric is engineered for quick fades, and you will see results after a really short time.

The jeans are made with all the superior-quality Tanuki details such as copper hardware, Tanuki logo embroidered back pocket detail, and the iconic Tanuki custom vegetable-tanned deerskin leather patch. The stitching for this one is quite remarkable: A variety of contrasting bright orange threads which really stand out.

The cut is a regular straight fit with a high rise.

Near the back pocket, there is the embroidered Tanuki 二 (Ni) logo, two parallel lines in Japanese Kanji representing the number 2. The lower line represents the past, tradition, the standard, peace. The upper line represents the future, change, strength. The red and blue colours of their logo refer to Japan’s flag, honouring their roots as denim artisans.

The Tanuki brand was established in 2016 in Okayama Prefecture. It comprises a small group of great artisans who are passionate about denim and boast more than 30 years’ experience in other brands in the industry. If there is something that characterizes Tanuki garments in addition to its modern cuts, it is the quality and variety of its fabrics, with prime importance given to the best cottons, natural indigo and the application of different types of tension on the shuttle looms when producing the fabrics.

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