True Origin
赤耳
Red Selvedge
Denim, Woven
on Old Looms
Crafted on traditional shuttle looms, True Origin’s Red Selvedge Denim combines heritage craftsmanship with modern manufacturing excellence.
Established
1968
Weights
10–21 oz
Loom width
30 in
真正の起源
Okayama · Japan
Shuttle looms
◆
Suvin long-staple cotton
◆
Okayama, Japan
◆
耳付き Self-finished edge
◆
Sanforized & raw finishes
◆
藍染 Rope-dyed indigo
◆
Shuttle looms
◆
Suvin long-staple cotton
◆
Okayama, Japan
◆
耳付き Self-finished edge
◆
Sanforized & raw finishes
◆
藍染 Rope-dyed indigo
◆
Our Story
物語
Fifty-eight years at the same river, weaving the same cloth
The mill sits in Kojima, where the Seto breeze once dried cotton sails. Twenty-two Toyoda shuttle looms still run at sixty picks a minute — slow enough for the yarn to keep its irregularity, and its memory.
Nothing here is automated for its own sake. Rope dyeing, warping and inspection stay in the hands of people who have done it for decades, backed by testing and traceability a modern buyer can audit.
From seed to selvedge
工程
Four hands the cloth passes through
一 二 三 四
01
Extra-long staple fibre, hand-classed bale by bale. The staple length is what lets us spin an open, slubby yarn that still holds tensile strength.
The fibre
02
Six to twelve dips in natural and synthetic indigo, rope-dyed so the core of the yarn stays white. That white core is the entire reason denim fades beautifully.
The dye house
Twenty-two narrow looms, 30 inches wide, run slow. The shuttle carries a continuous weft, closing the edge into a true selvedge — no overlock, no fray.
The looms
Sanforized, skewed or left raw, then inspected metre by metre under daylight lamps against a four-point system before the roll is sealed.
The standards
The Range
生地
Six house cloths, held in stock
Every construction below runs on 30-inch shuttle looms with a true self-finished edge. Custom weights from 8 to 24 oz are developed to order.
Minimum order
300 m per colourway
Cloth
Weight
Construction
Finish
Kojima 14
児島
Weight
14.2 oz
Construction
3×1 right-hand twill
Finish
Sanforized
Aizome 13
藍染
Weight
13.5 oz
Construction
3×1 left-hand twill
Finish
Raw, unsanforized
Seto Slub
瀬戸
Weight
12.0 oz
Construction
Slub warp, 2×1 twill
Finish
Sanforized
Kuro Kuro
黒黒
Weight
15.8 oz
Construction
Sulphur-black warp & weft
Finish
Skewed, sanforized
Tsuchi 18
土
Weight
18.4 oz
Construction
3×1 RHT, double weft
Finish
Raw, loomstate
Fuji 21
富士
Weight
21.0 oz
Construction
3×1 RHT, heavy slub
Finish
Raw, one-wash option
92%
Process water recovered and reused on site
0
Discharge of untreated dye liquor since 2016
100%
Traceable cotton, bale to bolt, with lot records
Insights
記録
Notes from the loom shed
Craft · Aug 2026
At sixty picks a minute the weft is laid, not fired. The cloth keeps the irregular tension that later reads as high-contrast fading along the leg.
Quality · Jul 2026
What the numbers on your roll ticket actually mean, and which defects we reject outright.
Indigo · Jun 2026
Fermented sukumo vats are unforgiving at scale. Here is how we hold shade tolerance within a quarter grade.
Development · May 2026
Three new constructions above 18 oz, and what they ask of your sewing line.
Sampling
見本
Ask for the cloth, not the catalogue
Tell us the weight, the hand and the wash you are chasing. We cut swatches from live production and post them within five working days.