OD+PBJ 18oz. "Super Rough Kakishibu" Selvedge Jeans (Slim Tapered)

The perfect marriage of texture and tradition, our latest collaborative effort with the Slub Masters is a new and improved version of last year’s ODPBJ002 Kakishibu weft. A celebration of the heavy slub & nep that is quintessentially PBJ, coupled with sincere homage paid to a traditional Japanese dye process.

Kakishibu has a deep rooted history in Japanese craft culture & tradition, dating back to the early 13th century when it was first introduced to Japan from China. Annually in late August, unripe persimmon are harvested as their tannin or juice is extracted. Used as a multi-solution tool, Kakishibu was used to cure hangovers, for wood lacquering and even as a clearing agent for sake, to name only a few of the varied applications of the historic dye. 

Leaving the naturally occurring Kakishibu dyed weft unchanged, the key update with the ODPBJ003 is the use of new Warp yarns borrowed from the SR-019 that released this year. Changing the Warp of the fabric essentially means you’re changing 60% of the fabric composition, as that is the proportion of Warp yarn in a conventional 3x1 denim twill.

In the case of the upcoming ODPBJ003’s, the added texture in the Warp not only gives the fabric a thicker hand feel, the heavy Nep in the yarn gives the Kakishibu Weft a slightly deeper hue of brown when compared to last years pair.

As sampling began with the fabric, our main incentive with this project was to highlight that insane slub that is quintessentially PBJ. If you know, you know. Aesthetically, it was imperative that we brought to market a fabric that retained all that texture, while looking nothing like anything available from the current PBJ lineup. 

We weren't about to leave PBJ's iconic leaf behind. Eventually we settled on only switching out the classic Indigo vein for a Kakishibu vein, leaving the dotted red Selvedge salute unchanged. The pocket bag and leather patch is where we were able to let loose, and brought in artist and PBJ superfan, Nathan Spoor for the design. Elevating the jeans further without compromising Nathan’s insane design work had to be done in a subtle yet tasteful manner.  

Another design element update from the new ODPBJ003 is the leather patch paint process. As with last year’s release, each patch will be hand painted in kakishibu. Each leather patch that will eventually make it onto every pair of the ODPBJ003, will be painted by hand by a renowned Tokyo based Japanese calligrapher (書道).

The popular 013 cut by Pure Blue Japan reflects a modern silhouette with the slim cut and tapered leg opening.