Up for sale here is a pair of jeans from the Sugar Cane label, a part of the Toyo Enterprise family of labels that includes Buzz Rickson, Sun Surf, Tailor Tokyo, Indian Motorcycle, and several others. Sugar Cane themselves manufacture a lot of Mister Freedom’s collections and distribute them in Japan. Needless to say, their credentials are very strong on the vintage-inspired, workwear-influenced Japanese clothing industry.
These are Sugar Cane’s lot 470 black denim selvedge jeans, basically an updated version of their 1947 cut of jeans. It is a straight leg fit, very classic in design where it is neither particularly loose or baggy. The black denim also ensures that the pants will go with pretty much everything with very little fuss.
These are also some pretty particular denim nerd details with these pants. Fabric is a 13oz cotton in an intentionally uneven weave and a very nice texture to it. Weft threads are sulfur dyed, while the warp threads are reactive pigment dyed. This means that the weft will fade quicker, first to gray and then to white, while the warp will fade slower and turn to gray. Fading will be pretty unique as a result of this, not quite like any other pair of jeans.
Other details are more straightforward, including red selvedge lines on the legs and interior coin pocket, branded buttons throughout, black rivets on the pockets and hidden rivets on the rear pockets. Pants feature chunky chainstitch construction throughout, including chain stitching on the cuffs. Rear has a custom Sugar Cane leather patch.
As is always the case with the Japanese labels, production runs are quite small with only limited availability, especially outside of Japan. Retail outside of Japan is about $200 and these never go on sale, so get yourself a deal here.
Size is labeled a 34 and fits true. I measure the waist at 34”, inseam at 28”, rise at 11” and opening at the bottom of the legs at 8”. The pants come 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 $30.