Up for sale here is a pair of pants 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.
So what we have here is a pair of Sugar Cane’s “star jeans”. These are a fairly straightforward pair of pants, done in a 13.25oz indigo dyed denim. Silhouette and detailing reminds me of 1960s era levis, which is probably what they were going for. The denim has a good weight, ideal for year-round wear, and like any good indigo piece the color will gradually fade according to wear. This pair is nicely broken in, where you don’t have to worry about any shrinkage or fading the denim yourself.
Detailing is very strong here too. Selvedge is visible on the interior leg, in this case a blue selvedge line. Rear pockets have star embroidery, a signature for this model of jeans. The star design is embroidered in cotton, which will intentionally fray and fall off with wear. We can see that happening with this pair already. Pants also include a zip fly, branded waistband button, chain stitch construction including chain stitched hem, and custom rear leather patch. As is always the case with the Japanese labels, production runs are quite small with only limited availability, especially outside of Japan.
Size is labeled a 34 and fits true. I measure the waist at 34” / 43cm, inseam at 24” / 61cm (these are ankle cut highwaters), rise at 11” / 29cm and opening at the bottom of the legs at 8” / 20cm. The pants come in lightly used, very good shape. There is some visible fading of the indigo as you can see, but otherwise no holes, tears or stains Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $30.