Up for sale here is a shirt from Japan’s Eternal label, one of the somewhat older and more established “American casual” labels. Eternal steers pretty strongly toward denim pieces, as they manufacture jeans and denim jackets, although they produce a full range of clothing as well. Eternal is based in Kojima city, basically the center of Japan’s workwear and denim industries, and are able to take advantage of the manufacturing available in the region. Kojima seems to have a strong concentration of both expertise and vintage looms actually, hence the concentration of denim manufacturers in the area. Like a number of other labels based in the city, including Kapital, Momotaro and Spellbound, most Eternal pieces are done on vintage looms as well.
In this case we have Eternal’s take on the classic button down shirt. There are some interesting details added here. For one, the shirt is a khaki color, done in a 75% cotton, 25% linen blend making it ideal for the warmer weather. On close inspection you can see the really nice texture to the fabric, something you don’t normally come across to be sure. Buttons are metal in art deco style and probably worth the price of admission alone. Also features dual chest pockets, an additional zipped pocket above the left chest pocket, pocket on the left sleeve, and striped blue and white fabric on the cuff interiors, pocket flap interiors and interior shoulders.
These pieces are very rare, especially outside of Japan. As far as I can tell Eternal currently does not have any distribution abroad, and they maintain a pretty minimal web presence as well. Production runs are pretty small and only specialist shops in Japan tend to stock them. The lack of availability is really a shame, as the quality here easily rivals that of any of the bigger labels.
Size is labeled 40 and fits between a small and a medium. I measure the chest at 19” / 49cm, shoulders at 17” / 43.5cm, length at 29” / 74cm and sleeves at 25.5” / 65cm from the shoulder. The shirt comes in lightly used, excellent shape with no holes, tears, stains or visible signs of wear. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $24.
