If we change the order of the letters that make up the word DENIM and flip the M that becomes a W, the word EDWIN is born. When we talk about jeans, it is inevitable to talk about EDWIN, the Japanese brand that made denim history. In 1947, in Tokyo, Japan, there is a store selling U.S. Army uniforms. In those same years, the owner’s son, Shuji Tsunemi, the current president of EDWIN, was born. Tsunemi initially decided not to take over the family business, but to pursue his studies in the United States, at Saint Louis University.
In 1961, Tsunemi decided to take over his father’s store and embark on that path of continuous experimentation, which would lead him to establish himself in the world of denim. In America Tsunemi, had purchased a large quantity of jeans, and it was on those garments, that he was able to experiment with the different types of washes. In 1963 he created a pair of jeans so heavy that it stood on its own, the garment in fact weighed 16 oz, the only one in the world. The Japanese people’s traditional passion for denim, fabric quality, craftsmanship, washing processes and advanced technologies are the distinctive features inscribed in the EDWIN brand. It is to EDWIN that we owe that process used today by every denim company on the planet that we know by the term “stone wash” and that marks a crucial turning point in the evolution of denim.