The Flat Head was founded in Nagano, Japan in 1996, and is known as a leading company in the Japanese denim business. The brand's founder, Mr. Masayoshi Kobayashi, took vintage denim (ranging from the 1920s to the 1960s) and deconstructed it to analyze the precise dyeing and construction techniques. They then combined time-tested traditional methods of construction with modern techniques and quality control to produce our own distinctive jeans. Mr. Kobayashi’s passion spread to a myriad of different types of clothing – including T-shirts, shoes, sweatshirts, jackets, and other accessories.
In order to create the highest-quality garments, They only use the very best materials that meet the demands of our strict quality control. Furthermore, only the most highly-skilled workers possess the capability to craft garments to our standard of quality.
The Flat Head's selvage denim is woven on old-style shuttle looms that creates no more than 50 meters of fabric per day. This is a time-consuming process, but results in a quality and texture that is distinct from other vintage-influenced brands, and is often superior to real vintage jeans.
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| Old-Style Shuttle Looms (Courtesy : Rawrdenim.com) |
An important characteristic of our jeans is a high-contrast fade. Flat Head’s denim receives twice as much indigo dye as most rope-dyed jeans – a process in which only the surface of the threads is dyed while the inside remains white. The fabric itself is unsanforized and completely loomstate – it is not treated in any way after weaving, resulting in a hairy, uneven denim with superior fading potential. The uneven weave of the warp threads gives the denim its variable, uneven feel, and this is what allows for our unique vertical fading to develop over time. As a result, our jeans can achieve high contrast between points of stress and the rest of the denim, such as the creases at the lap (whiskering), the surface of the thighs, and behind the knees (honeycombs.) Additionally, their denim and construction techniques create a durable pair of jeans you’ll enjoy wearing for years to come.
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| A brand new pair of Flat Head 1001 (Courtesy : The Flat Head) |
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| A brand new pair of The Flat Head 1001 (Courtesy : The Flat Head) |
Some Samples of a faded The Flat Head jean:
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| Front (Courtesy : soul4street.com) |
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| Back (Courtesy : soul4street.com) |
Individual evolution is the heart of The Flat Head’s philosophy, and your jeans and other items of clothing will change over time, fading and breaking in depending on your lifestyle and activities to create a truly personalized garment. As the founder Mr. Kobayashi says, a pair of Flat Head jeans has only half of its value when new; your jeans gain value as they crease and fade along with your lifestyle, and reach their fullest value when fully worn out. That’s the philosophy, and that’s what they mean when they say that at Flat Head, we are particular about our clothes.
*Source : The Flat Head Document.
