Popularity Of Edwin Clothing
Edwin Clothing is a Japanese brand that specialises in jeans. As of 2002 there were 365 employees and the company was bringing in 35 billion yen. Their flagship store was opened in Arakawa, Tokyo.
How Edwin came to be
Edwin, which if you change the w to an m, is an anagram of denim, was founded in Japan in 1957. The founder, Mr Tsunemi loved denim and, as there was no denim available in Japan at the time, would import it directly from the United States. The denim he imported would be used, dirty and worn out and he would have to wash and restore it by hand before then selling it on to his customers. In 1951 for the first time, domestically made denim became available, but compared to the denim available in the United States, this denim was expensive and a poorer quality.
History of Edwin Jeans
The first pair of Edwin Clothing Jeans was crafted by Mr Tsunemi in 1961, and by 1963 the world’s heaviest pair of ringspun denim jeans had been produced. This pair of jeans featured the famous three colour rainbow selvedge which is still in use today. During the 1970’s Edwin Clothing produced the first ‘old wash’ jeans in the world. These jeans were designed to reflect jeans which had been worn in from the stiff state they would have been purchased in. Jeans of this time were used as work wear, and had to be tough and long lasting. Continually looking to be different and produce what the world was looking for, during the 1980’s Edwin Clothing invented stone washing and during the 1990’s invented new vintage, the idea of talking references from before 1947 and recreating them in modern jeans.
Washing
The way in which Edwin Clothing ‘wash’ their jeans has become a world standard. First the jean is sprayed with a resin and placed in an oven for the resin to set. 3D folds and moustaches are applied by hand using a special machine and is then ‘washed’. This involves placing the jean into a special machine made in Italy along with a mix of light pumice stones, PH controlled water and enzyme and composite. The jean is washed for twenty minutes and then hung out to dry. Once it has dried it’s sprayed with permanganates spray and then abrasion work is applied by hand. After this the jean is put in a bath that will apply the ‘dirty’ colour and then again is left to dry. A light colour spray is then applied by hand and finally the jean is put on a machine that looks much like human legs. This machine works the areas of the jeans most affected by use in order to give the jean a look of natural wear.
Popularity of Edwin
During the 1980’s Edwin Clothing was doing so well that they began sales in Europe and the United States with Erwin International being established in 1982. Just one year later, in 1983 Edwin Clothing had the top sales of jeans in Japan. In 1997 Edwin Clothing created the 503 jeans which are one of the most popular jeans in their collection, and Brad Pitt has also been a spokesman and model for the company.