Inside Denimio Part 1 — Alex walks you through his Tanuki collection

Our social media guy Alex walks you through his Tanuki collection!

The Denimio team recently talked about the fact that we love this communal feel of the denim world and that while we interact with so many people on a daily basis, you might not know too much about us and what we love about denim. We thought it might be a great idea to ask various members of our team to give you a bit of an insight into our denim routines. I hear Saint Peter, our Customer Care God, will chime in next and some of the members in Japan, Kazuya, Riki, and Ryosuke will share their personal stories soon. But today, it’s my turn.

Hey, my name is Alex and you might have talked to me on Instagram. I’ve been posting indigo related goodies for the last seven years and it got me in touch with so many amazing individuals over time, I am really grateful for that. I am 29 years old, I currently reside in France. Before I joined Denimio as a part-timer, I lived in London for a BA in Communications. For my BA, I had the chance to go to Japan for 4 weeks to do an internship in Yokohama. I was always interested in denim and when I visited the Denimio brick and mortar store, I fell deep into the rabbit hole. If you ever find yourself in Yokohama, I highly recommend our I basically went there every day, and at some point, I started to run Denimio’s Instagram.

I recently realized that while I have a massive collection of denim, which comes naturally working for Denimio, my current rotation features quite a bit of Tanuki denim. When we started carrying them, I didn’t care too much about them. I think I was still checking out all the more established brands like Momotaro and Samurai, so the initial hype about them kinda passed me by. That changed when they changed their hardware, the shape of their back pockets and the embroidery on the pocket, something just clicked.

NSXT

My girlfriend at the time, now my fiancee, was eager for me to wear more fitted jeans. So my first pair was the NSXT. I was highly skeptical of stretch denim and the form was very tight. When I checked these out in person, I was not able to tell that they contained any stretch. In my mind, stretch meant a glossy shine and flat textures. That was not the case: these are slubby, have an insane amount of fuzz and hairiness, and the dark blue natural indigo is just breathtaking. I really dig the material, unfortunately, I didn’t get to wear them as often because the weather is simply to damn hot. In the Wintertime, these are my go-pair, I love how they look with boots and an Oxford shirt.

ZHT Zetto

TANUKI NSXT | DENIMIO PREMIUM JAPANESE DENIM

My second pair was the Zetto High Tapered. These have so much slub which really becomes apparent when you look at the weft. The material was very coarse for the first couple of wears but softened up immediately. They are very breathable, so I can wear them most of the year apart from the Summer. Back in the day, I tried to wash as little as possible but for this one, I washed whenever necessary. The slubby knots were the first to chip away the indigo which results in what the Japanese call freckle fades. The color has changed drastically from the dark blue with a greenish tint to a bright royal blue. They have seen quite a bit of wear and countless washes and they are still going strong. Unfortunately, I only have one pair of legs for too many pairs of jeans. These are almost sold out but you might find your size here.

KT Kaze

This pair is special. The color is so so so unique, I handled a lot of denim in my life but when these were released, they were going so fast, that I was seriously worried to miss out. I scored one of the last pairs and I was delighted when they arrived. They are so light and smooth. These are even wearable in the summer. The bright blue is surely controversial for more traditional denim heads. It’s bold but for summer, all it takes is a nice piece of sneakers (may I recommend YOAK, great construction and they are not widely known outside of Japan) and a nice loop wheeled shirt and you’re set. I know that most of you are in a position where it’s hard to justify yet another pair, but with this one, you won’t struggle to point out why and how it’s different from the rest. When I open my wardrobe and I look at 17 pairs of Japanese raw denim, I can immediately spot the KAZE fabric. And good news for all of you, we recently restocked them in Tapered, High Tapered, and a Type 3 jacket. You are spoilt for choice.

ZT KAZE TANUKI | DENIMIO PREMIUM JAPANESE DENIM

THT 天(TEN)

THT TANUKI | DENIMIO PREMIUM JAPANESE DENIM

My newest pair, the THT, I bought out of pure necessity. Working for denimio, every day I cannot wear denim feels lost to me. I don’t own any chinos and I don’t own any shorts. The KAZE is great but when it’s 35 degrees, I needed something like linen pants or something. The TEN fabric is exactly that. The fabric is so light, hold them against the sun and you can see how low the tension of this fabric is. The bizarre thing about them is how insanely textured they are. They are slubby but what really sells me is the mad amount of fuzz. When I put them on, they reminded me of woolly trousers, almost like felt but light as a feather. It is an outstanding combination that you don’t come across very often. They fade very nicely, but that is not even the point for me so much with these. The texture simply becomes more apparent with every wear.

So that’s my little tanuki collection. I am toying with the idea of getting another one. Let me know which pair you think I should get next in the comments!