To arrange beautifully, and to embrace the rough edges.

Good evening. I'm Matsushima from cantáte.

I received requests to write about denim jackets as well, so I gave it a try.

Although I initially thought, “There isn't much to write about compared with jeans,” I then thought, “Maybe it would be interesting to present them as a contrast?” So here they are.

This time, the denim jacket photos are of my personal jacket,The 3rd Trucker Jacket has been worn for about three months, while the 1st T-Back Jacket has been worn for about a year.perhaps. Both are worn starched, soThe wear patterns are sharp.I think.

There is also the pleasure of wearing it without starch and letting it fade naturally, but wearing it starched is interesting too, as the three-dimensional creases and sharp wear patterns stand out.

If you want to learn about starching, try searching for “denim starching”!

From here,the 3rd Type Trucker Jacket, which pursued the beauty of tailoringandThe 1st Type WWⅡ T-Back Jacket, which turned imperfections into beautyLet's look at the two while comparing them.

When you hear “denim jacket,” this may be the first shape that comes to everyone's mind.

The so-called “3rd type.” The V-shaped yokes running across the front and the balanced pocket placement.

It spread as the standard from the 1960s onward and remains so universal that even today it can be called “the denim jacket.”

This detail symbolizes an era when the ruggedness of workwear receded and it became refined as an industrial product.

・Refined collar stitching

It is sewn with a relatively high stitch count using orange-toned cotton thread.

 

・Self-fabric back flap

There were periods when lightweight denim was used, but we deliberately chose a self-fabric construction.

 

・Acute-angle V-stitching

Because chain stitching cannot be backstitched, it needs to be secured with a lockstitch.

 

・Chain stitching attaching the waistband

Please remember this yellow stitch-thread color.

 

・The hem tab and front V-shaped yoke that I like on the 3rd type

I prefer this V-shaped yoke to be narrower at the hem.

 

 

What cantáte set out to do was take that level of completion even further.

The precision of the pattern, the stitch movement, and the way the seam allowances settle. Every detail was refined to give it the elegance associated with tailored clothing.

It is a construction that makes you want to repeat the word “beautiful” when looking at denim as a material.

By contrast, even among the same denim jackets, the “1st type” is completely different.

A wide placket, with only one chest pocket. Depending on the available fabric width, a back yoke seam was sometimes added, resulting in what is known as a “T-back” construction.

Originally, these were nothing more than manufacturing “errors” or “unavoidable circumstances.” In other words, they were something close to custom-made pieces.

Even so, it was precisely this lack of uniformity that embodied the atmosphere and powerful appeal of the time.

 

・Collar stitching

The relatively high stitch count accentuates the three-dimensional character unique to cotton thread. With the seam allowance neatly settled, it creates a refined collar.

 

The stitching on the right collar is clean, isn't it?

・Stitching on the left collar

“Huh?” On closer inspection, you can see that it has been sewn twice—and it even meanders slightly.

Because this is done by hand, there may be some variation, but every A-grade piece is made by hand to give it the feel of a “B-grade” item.

 

・Front pleat-securing box stitching

You can probably tell because we have placed a ruler here, but can you see that it is offset by roughly the width of one pleat?

Modern clothing is expected to be aligned, but being offset feels more vintage, and it evokes the atmosphere of a jacket sewn by the local women called in to help at the time, so we deliberately leave it that way.

 

・Box stitching securing the pleat on the left front panel

The stitching uses an upper overlap.

 

・Box stitching securing the pleat on the right front panel

The right front panel uses a lower overlap.

“Wait, are you changing it?”—We are.

Because this way is easier to sew.

Aligning the upper and lower overlaps would have been far more troublesome.

People at the time must have felt the same way, and garments with such variations surely existed.

・Irregular V-shaped stitching

Where it would normally be aligned straight, we deliberately sew it at an offset angle.

That deviation from perfect uniformity is precisely what lends it a vintage character.

 

・Waist chain stitching

Unlike the 3rd type earlier, can you see how a little black is visible?

No one could see the inside, so any color would do. It only needed to be sewn. Better still, it could be an unobtrusive black.

That must be why they kept sewing through the war.

Even so,Only the visible stitching remained: even if the flaps were removed, the pockets—and the rivets—were retained.

The reality of the time seeps through where such compromises and dogged persistence coexist.

 

・C-shaped cuff stitching

You may have noticed by now, but unlike the 3rd type, the 1st type uses yellow stitching.

Because it has been worn,Even the laurel buttons are worn, revealing the character of the base beneath.

 

・Irregular cinch-back stitching

Rather than perfectly straight and even, slightly distorted lines have greater character.

While retaining functionality, it bears the exact traces of human handling, and its vintage irregularity becomes part of its appeal.

 

・Needle cinch buckle

We use both copper plating and nickel plating, each for a different purpose.

With wear, both gradually lose their finish, revealing the character of the metal itself.

Moreover, precisely because it was wartime, local grandmothers were called in to help, and it is this unevenness from untrained hands that gives it the compelling force and earthy character of vintage.

At cantáte, this roughness is not merely reproduced; every stitch and misalignment is meticulously reworked, bringing it to completion as an A-grade piece.

It reconstructs, through a contemporary tailoring perspective, the wartime reality of “accepting imperfection.”

This is a denim jacket that embraces the deliberately retained “distortion” as an aesthetic choice.

 

・An offset sleeve underarm seam allowance

The sleeve underarm seam of a denim jacket is extremely painful because the seam allowance digs into the side,

The sleeve underarm seam is offset to prevent discomfort.

It is intentional.

 

・A one-stitch difference

In fact, different sewing machines are used for the 3rd and 1st types.

A one-stitch difference, but the orange 3rd type uses a sewing machine with a heavier gauge.

 

 

The 3rd and 1st.

One is a beautifully refined finished form; the other preserves the original’s rugged character.

By moving between these two extremes, the depth of the denim jacket as a garment comes into view.

The two models reworked by cantáte are neither simple reproductions nor decorative variations.

We traced the question of “why was it made this way?” to its roots, taking on its entire historical context and reworking it into a garment that still speaks to the present day.

In each individual stitch and the slightest variation in overlap, you can sense the atmosphere of the time and the presence of the hands that made it.

At first glance, it may seem like a garment bound by its era, but follow the details and something universal emerges.

That is precisely why I believe it is worth putting on again today.

 

cantáte 松島 紳