Up for sale here is a shirt 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 patchwork shirt from their “light” line. This is one of Sugar Cane’s newer lines, intended for wear during the warmer months. That said, this isn’t super light in my opinion, but more of a medium-light fabric suitable for year-round wear. Quality is strong throughout as you would expect, with a number of subtle details added. For one, material here is a knit cotton, done in a patchwork style with two different shades of indigo dyed fabric. The patchwork approach makes the pattern much more complicated and thus more expensive to produce. As you might expect, not many of these shirts are produced. Interior has red bobbin thread, while exterior has blue single needle thread. Single chest pocket. Has a woven neck label and side gussets as well.
Like any quality indigo piece you can expect this shirt to fade and develop with wear. There is currently no visible fading, but part of the fun with these kinds of indigo dyes is seeing how it develops over time. Retail on this shirt was about $200 outside of Japan, although availability outside of Japan is extremely limited. Get it here in very good shape for a fraction of that.
Size is labeled a medium and fits true. I measure the chest at 21” / 53cm, shoulders at 18” / 46cm, length at 26.5” / 67cm in front and 28” / 71cm in back, both from the base of the neck, and sleeves at 24” / 61cm from the shoulder. The shirt comes lightly used, very good shape with no holes, tears, stains or obvious fading of the indigo. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $24.
