SugarCane & Co. is a Japanese heritage denim brand known for its authentic vintage American workwear craftsmanship.
Founded as part of Toyo Enterprises in the mid-1960s, Sugar Cane originally produced military uniforms for U.S. bases stationed in Japan. The brand’s name was bestowed by an American officer and has since become synonymous with vintage-inspired workwear.
SugarCane Jeans are uniquely Japanese denim made from sugar cane. For many years, SugarCane Jeans were a ferociously guarded Japanese secret but today the brand is attracting global attention.
Interestingly, SugarCane prefers to use the vintage term ‘dungarees’ instead of ‘jeans. According to the brand, the word ‘jeans’ has become the vernacular for faux denim fashion wear that masquerades as the tough, classic waist overalls history made famous.
SugarCane original vintage denim jeans were developed from the accumulated results of more than 20 years of research and experience of vintage jeans reproduction. Their jeans, according to the brand, do not resemble any other pair of jeans. They are based on ‘5 Pocket Denim pants with rivets’ that the great forerunners made but are not just a copy of their appearance.
“We have thoroughly analyzed our forerunners jeans from the 1900’s in chronicle order from yarn, dye, weave and construction to components. We have with us the actual results of fabric woven and color fade test on the original pants worn. In order to create our own original jeans, it took over 20 years of research. To perfectly reproduce denim fabrics from 50 to 100 years ago in today’s advanced period is extremely difficult. To begin with we had to look for old power looms that had worked to weave denim fabric in those days, restore them and adjust them to weave the fabric we have. It was not easy to revive the old machines that disappeared a long time ago due to rationalization. Nowadays, the old power looms are not so unusual but in the early research stage, satisfactory fabrics could not be woven on the old looms found. It was a joint operation with the weaver of trial and failure and advanced step by step.
Yarn is also a very important factor for vintage denim; the cotton is carefully selected, blended, spun and indigo dyed exclusively for each model. Through many processes we finally had success in developing perfect vintage denim of which the surface looks rough and uneven, and indigo warp yarn fades like original old vintage denim. We believe that authentic vintage jeans can only be revived by the same process as original jeans and so had to search for a sewing factory that still has old sewing machines and experienced sewers. Our denim fabrics, after inspection, are delivered to our sewing factory to be cut and sewn. Also the original rivets, buttons and patch are put on by the bands of well-skilled workers. Every pair of SugarCane jeans is completed this way.”
In addition to jeans, the brand also offers a range of jackets, shirts, and accessories.
You can shop for SugarCane items here.
