Up for sale here is a very rare and unusual shirt from Japan’s Eternal label, one of the somewhat older and more established “American casual” labels operating out of Japan. Eternal steers pretty strongly toward denim pieces, as they manufacture quite a few jeans and denim jackets, although they produce a full range of clothing as well. Eternal is based in the Kojima district in western Japan, basically the center of Japan’s workwear and denim industries, and is able to take advantage of the expertise available in the region. Kojima seems to have a strong concentration of very specialized production, particularly vintage looms, 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.
Here we have what amounts to a premium quality button down shirt. There is a very strong traditional Japanese influence here, which is not something you typically see to this degree with Eternal. Material is a very nice khaki-colored cotton knit. Weave is similar to a herringbone, but at the same time just a bit different. There is a flower motif throughout the shirt in two shades of blue. There are several additional details worth noting here too. For one, buttons are all wood, with connecting threads in red. More notable, perhaps, is that the neck tag has the “kura” (倉) character, a part of “Kurashiki” (倉敷), the town where Kojima is located. The same “kura” character is embroidered in red at the bottom of the shirt too. It looks like Eternal is showing some of its hometown pride with this one, creating a very high quality piece that utilizes some of the manufacturing prowess of the area. You definitely won’t come across another one of these anytime soon.
Size is labeled a 2 (in Japanese, “二”), equivalent to a standard medium. I measure the chest at 20” / 51cm, shoulders at 18” / 46cm and length at 27.5” / 70cm from the base of the neck. The shirt comes in lightly used, excellent shape with no holes, tears, stains or obvious signs of wear. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $24.
