What is the BonneGueule Japan Line?
We had the idea of reinterpreting two of our flagship garments from the BonneGueule line with unique Japanese materials . Quite simply.
We spent a lot of time explaining to you our love of Japanese materials (through the collaboration with Hast and Benjamin Jezequel , or our BonneGueule jeans for example) and it was therefore logical that one day, we would come to offer you clothing with the best Japan has to offer.
Will we be releasing other Japan Line clothing in the coming seasons? Very sincerely, we don't know, because everything will depend on your reception.
Indeed, above all, we made this “Japan Line” out of a passion for beautiful Japanese materials , in a somewhat naive way in the end.
It's not the number of jeans sold that motivates us, but more the desire to introduce you to very special materials outside of the classic BonneGueule line. So we'll see what happens next... It's time to present to you the first of the two garments from this Japan Line, jeans with crazy material !
A canvas (of stars) from the legendary manufacturer Kurabo
We are extremely proud to offer you these jeans with 13.5 oz canvas from Kurabo, dyed with natural indigo . It seems simple like that, but you'll see, there's a long story behind it...
Kurabo is a rather unusual manufacturer of denim fabric. It is above all one of the oldest Japanese textile manufacturers , since the company is well over a century old. But above all it is the first historical supplier of Japanese selvedge canvas . Without Kurabo, the landscape of Japanese selvedge canvases would undoubtedly not be the same: it would not exist!
Indeed, in the 1970s, Japanese denim brands still sourced their supplies from Cone Mills , a historic manufacturer of selvedge fabric of American origin (it was one of the two pillars of American selvedge denim, with the now defunct Amoskeag Manufacturing Company ).
But the Japanese, having textile know-how, could no longer be content with using American denim. They needed their own Japanese selvedge canvas, especially during this period when American culture and the symbolic significance of jeans (the rebellion, James Dean, all that) fascinated them!
Add to this a technological advance with the development of Toyoda's "model D" loom (yes, yes, with a "D"), the Japanese taste for perfectionism and craftsmanship, and you obtain a beautiful crucible for the development of this fabric which crystallized so many fantasies.
A Toyoda job looks a bit like that.
It was in 1972, after 8 tests, that Kurabo finally developed the very first Japanese selvedge canvas for the Big John brand (which only used Cone Mills). These 8 tests will give the name of this legendary fabric: the KD-8 (for Kurabo Denim 8). The first 100% Made in Japan jeans were born!
Today, many Japanese selvedge manufacturers owe much to Kurabo's hard work, and multiple inventions, to create Japanese selvedge fabric; because they have invented many good practices to create the best selvedge fabrics in the world. This is a manufacturer with real heritage.
In addition to manufacturing on very specific looms, Kurabo was a pioneer in another area that made Japanese jeans successful: the use of natural indigo .
Here is indigo powder, the smell of which remains very unpleasant when applied to fabric.
The interest of natural indigo? The way the canvas ages , undoubtedly.
The color nuances are much richer and more varied, and the washes are more contrasted, than with any other canvas (even Japanese).
That is to say that the parts on the folds become lighter, while the dark parts keep their color nicely . When the jeans are new, you will see that the blue is deeper, again thanks to this famous natural indigo. But once again, the difference between natural indigo and synthetic indigo is revealed by natural washing, week after week.
After 4 months of wear, we can already see the whiskers on the upper thighs. Turquoise highlights will appear within a few months.
Natural indigo also has an advantage: it is much more ecological than synthetic indigo, because the water used for its manufacture contains only completely natural residues, and without danger for the environment. However, it is more complicated to do and more expensive, because to obtain increasingly dark denim, you have to dip the cotton thread in natural indigo several times (generally, between 15 and 20 times).
But the fiber is really dyed at its core, unlike synthetic indigo which penetrates the fiber less, and which only sticks to the surface of the canvas (we speak of deep core dyeing ).
This is why natural indigo jeans age more beautifully, as nuances appear little by little, with a very subtle palette of shades, due to the numerous baths in the dye.
To go further, don't forget that Milone has written a very comprehensive file on indigo and the past difficulties in manufacturing it. The first part on indigo pigment is here, and the other is here .
Since it is a natural indigo and the jeans are dark, it is normal that it bleeds a little the first few days, but this is inseparable from a magnificent wash over the months, full of nuances. Do not hesitate to let it soak for the first time with detergent for dark textiles for 40 minutes: to make it bleed a little at the beginning, it is very effective.
Then, don't hesitate to cuff your jeans; it's the back of the fabric (the light part) that will be in contact with your shoe, and not the indigo part. You will wear it without cuffs later...
Also, initially avoid light-colored shoes made of suede and other materials that “catch” the dye. But on black, blue, brown, or dark colored shoes in smooth leather, you have nothing to fear!
No worries with this type of shoe (Zign boots).
Finally, take a step back: in addition to being stylish to have shoes with a natural indigo patina, it's absolutely not visible when you wear jeans on top. That’s good, I wasn’t planning on wearing these ankle boots with shorts 😉
How will our canvas age?
Initially, it will lighten very slightly evenly and have a more bluish color (as a reminder, it is very dark at the beginning). And then turquoise shades will appear on the folds.
The quality of the cotton means that the canvas will really soften wear after wear, it will very quickly leave its rigid and rough side, inherent to a new selvedge canvas. Also note that the canvas relaxes very quickly, which makes it very comfortable without further ado (I will come back to this point).
You observe the grosgrain of the new jeans. Turquoise reflections will appear after a few months of wear.
It is therefore a very, very high-end canvas that you have on these jeans , and very few brands have access to Kurabo. Because the Japanese supplier obliges, contacts are difficult to obtain (for example, they do not have an office in Europe), and the scarcity of the web does not help matters.
Also, the width of the roll of fabric (called width ) is only 80 cm, compared to 150 cm with other brands. So you need more canvas to make jeans.
Let's thank Alexandre, our product manager, who did a remarkable job to reach the pinnacle of Selvegde canvas. He really called on his entire network.
Willing to do anything to find this famous painting, Alexandre even missed a few AS Monaco matches... just for you!
Such luxurious finishes? You simply won't find them anywhere on the French market
I really gave Alexandre a whim for these jeans: “give me the best possible finishes!” » . And you will see, we went to a level well beyond what I imagined…
Let's start at the bottom, there we find the traditional chain stitch that purists love so much.
The tone-on-tone chain stitch, so that the inside of the jeans is as pure as possible.
If you are turning the jeans inside out, there are several things to note. The fly is braided , and, something I have rarely seen elsewhere, the seam of the pockets at the leg level is also braided, which gives a very clean interior , with no risk of the slightest thread fraying.
As for the pocket bag (= the fabric of the pocket), I have a strange curse which means that I often rip holes in my jean pockets, even though I don't put keys in them. So I strongly insisted on Alexandre having a 100% cotton fabric, very thick and resistant .
Still on the subject of pockets, you will see that the pocket bag is sewn very neatly to the denim canvas , always to avoid the slightest fraying.
We compared with jeans sold 20 euros more expensive than ours, judge for yourself the difference in finishes. Your sharpest keys won't puncture your pocket (avoid blades though, you never know).
Finally, the last unique detail, still on the inside of the leg: the red edging goes all the way up to the waist , whereas on classic selvedge jeans, you can see that the edging is absent on the last few centimeters. The canvas is so beautiful that it was very important for us to highlight this red border all the way.
Moreover, the ticket pocket is also selvedge, but with a little particularity: if we find the traditional orange stitching on the outside, when you look at the inside (so where there is the red border), this is not an orange stitching that you will find, but a tone-on-tone stitching to highlight this border.
When we tell you that the devil is in the details!
Let's move on to the belt loops. There is a double loop system that allows you to pass a thin belt as well as a very wide belt, without the loop moving.
Small detail that kills (and not found elsewhere), the loops are lined very neatly . No risk of having the slightest wire cracking when you take your belt off or put it back on.
We even added two central loops, so that the jeans don't gape when you sit down.
Let's finish with the back pockets. They are semi-lined , to prevent the formation of an exterior fold with age. But even more, the pocket lining is sewn with a so-called “invisible” seam , to avoid the slightest snag with your keys, coins or nails when you use the back pockets.
Finally, the hidden rivet on the back pockets required a lot of work from Alexandre, both to develop it and to make it “industrializable”. This is a more complicated “feature” to add than it seems, because it interrupts the production chain.
It's quite technical, but Alexandre had to add a little black fabric (the same as that used to line the loops), in order to obtain a very slight thickness so that the rivet is firmly fixed. And the whole thing is coated with a beautiful stopping point 😉
That's it for all the finishes, and to my knowledge, there is no equivalent on the French market , especially at this price. I have not seen any other jeans that have so many exclusive finishes, and with such a prestigious fabric .
We compared the interior of our Japan Line and jeans sold for 20 euros more than ours from a leading brand on Japanese fabrics!!! It’s up to you to judge 😉
The same photo in a wider shot.
If you have ever seen comparable jeans sold in France, I strongly encourage you to post them in the comments, because Alexandre and I did a lot of research to have a point of comparison.
Exceptional canvas + exceptional finishes = exceptional jeans
The place of manufacture: long live transparency
In this video, Alexandre takes you through all the stages of making jeans.
To achieve this level of finish and construction - while keeping a price of less than €200 - we could not go for a classic jean (professional chemical wash). We had to find a specialist, a manufacturer who mastered both the manufacturing of technical clothing/workwear, and the fashion dimension of the product.
Alexandre therefore turned to a French company, specialized in several areas:
- workwear, the real thing. They really make work clothes for large French companies, and are therefore used to making robust and sturdy clothing,
- technical clothing,
- formerly military clothing (notably for the Air Force),
- ready-to-wear for luxury houses.
This French company has a subsidiary in Tunisia, used to working on high-end jeans (and when I say high-end, I mean models priced over €300).
Just like for the canvas, Alexandre managed like an adventurer to find this factory combining all these know-how.
The cut: you won't be disoriented
We instructed the workshop to make the exact same cut as our usual BG 1.1 jeans . But, the material being different, the feeling is not the same when trying it on.
Since the waist is slightly higher at the back, it quickly becomes very comfortable , you don't need to "do it" for weeks (what we call "cardboard effect"). Still with this in mind, we have loosened the waistband a little at the back, which may be surprising at first try-on.
But don't worry, as soon as you put on a belt, and as you wear it, the back will press correctly (and comfortably) against your back. Magic !
Patrons t-shirt, Heschung boots.
For the rest, it's as usual: we are on the same semi-slim cut as our first jeans, with a leg opening of 18.5 cm . Don't forget to use and abuse our measurement table, especially since we have enriched it with a video 😉
But without any hassle, simply take your usual size, it fits completely normally.
How does he fall?
Here are the jeans after 4 months of wear (the fading has already started well). You can easily wear it with a casual shirt and a pair of ankle boots.
Alexandre chose to wear it with a parka, a workwear shirt and a pair of white sneakers. You will notice that Alexandre accentuates the loose side by wearing the jeans one size larger.
How to get Japan Line jeans?
The chambray shirt is available here now, and the selvedge jean is right here.
