And just like that, we are now halfway through the year! In tandem with the sweltering heatwave we are experiencing in Japan, comes an equally heated series of drops from Studio D'Artisan and Japan Blue.
Studio D'Artisan's latest collaboration model - The War Jeans stems from SDA's fond nostalgia of a trend that took over Japan like a storm in the 80's.
Sticker characters burst onto the scene during this period and became the most sought after collectables amongst kids. During their peak, purchases had to be restricted to 3 sets per person in order to prevent stampedes to checkout counters for the most hyped releases.
Working closely with two original character designers, SDA have teamed up with Yonezawa and Hyodo-san from the sticker powerhouse Greenhouse to conceptualize and create two fresh characters, "Indi God" and "Belial Clipper" with SDA's identity etched into the DNA of the artwork for their new "War" collection jeans.
Featuring a 14oz. unsanforized selvedge fabric, SDA have incorporated the use of contrasting painted stitching to represent each original character. The painted stitching is also a historical salute, since Levis jeans during the Second World War had painted stitching due to the rationing of material for the war effort.
Each pocket bag also features original artwork for Indi God and Belial Clipper along with a short bio for each character.
Cut in the fan-favorite 108 Relax Tapered silhouette, expect a roomy set of rises and thigh with a sharp taper down the rest of the leg.
The first of two new shirt drops from Japan Blue, the latest palm tree dobby cloth shirt hits all the right Summer vibe elements of color and texture.
Not only do we love this classic palm tree print motif, it's upon closer inspection of the fabric that we can truly appreciate the textured subtlety of the fabric that this garment is cut from.
The intricately woven dobby cloth is a real standout fabric for this season, adding that well deserved layer of texture to an already stellar shirt.
Also dropping this week is Japan Blue's fabled 5oz. Côte d'Ivoire fabric in a work shirt motif.
The JB crew have maintained a strong connection with the Ivory Coast since the very first pair of jeans using cotton sourced from the country launched in 2014. Using this particular hand-picked fabric gives a positive boost to the dying cotton industry of Cote D'Ivoire and on top of that, Japan Blue have gone to lengths to create a system where a portion of the profits from each garment are appropriated to the development fund of the country.
One final salute to the West African country, and one of our favorite Selvedge IDs of all time - the orange, white and green tricolor representing the flag of the Ivory Coast.
The new items from SDA and Japan Blue drop on 6/1 @ Midnight (JST)
