Up for sale here is a very unique shirt from Japanese label Sugar Cane. Sugar Cane, in case you were not aware, is a part of a number of labels manufactured by Toyo Enterprise, a pretty big name in the Japanese workwear world. Other Toyo labels include Buzz Rickson, Sun Surf, Tailor Tokyo, Indian Motorcycle, and several more. Sugar Cane themselves manufacture the Mister Freedom label as well. This shirt is in fact made from one of Sugar Cane’s signature fabrics, a 50% cotton and 50% sugar cane fiber material that Mister Freedom refers to as “Okinawa” denim. It’s a completely unique material, giving the fabric quite a bit more depth than you see with standard cotton products.
As you may already be aware, Sugar Cane’s Okinawa products are already pretty rare. They’re produced in small quantities and pretty hard to come by outside of Japan. It is even more rare to see the same fabric used in a shirt, as you see here. This shirt is doubly interesting given the dye job as well, where they opted here for a persimmon-based dye, creating a nice varied light brown color. Color is pleasantly uneven and creates a nice contrast if you’re going to wear this with jeans. This is definitely a premium Sugar Cane product.
Aside from the dye and fabric, you’ve got a fair amount of details including the custom neck tag, traditional Japanese style fabric lining the collar and cuffs, asymmetric chest pockets, and denim side gussets with chainstitch runoff. As you might expect given the fabric and dye, these shirts are much more expensive than standard sugar cane models at retail, even more so if you are able to get these outside of Japan. You won’t find a better price on this, so get it while you can.
Size is labeled large and fits true. I measure the chest at 21”, shoulders at 18”, length at 29” in front and 30” in back, both from the base of the neck, and sleeves at 24” from the shoulder. The shirt comes in lightly used, very good shape with no holes, tears or stains. Made in Japan.
Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $24.