Street Snaps | Samurai Indigo Kasuri shirting

Kasuri (or 絣) is the Japanese term for a fabric that has a color range of dyed fibers to create patterns and images within a textile. It is similar to Ikat dyeing, a form of resistance dyeing. Ikat is the predecessor to Kasuri techniques and was first developed during the reign of the Ryukyu Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa), around 1200AD. Traditional Japanese fabrics have been produced with these techniques for centuries by highly skilled artisans and is a renowned and revered material for the Japanese.

A method of dyeing dating back centuries, Samurai lean into tradition to craft a timeless top fo the urban gentlemen. Starting out with a unique checkered stitch pattern with a 3D texture, the combination of Kasuri dyed Natural Indigo yarns result in the immensely streaky pattern seen throughout this shirt. In this particular case, the Ai-Shima(Indigo Stripe) version of the shirt has the undyed yarn threads featured only in the warp, resulting in an almost rain-like fabric face.