Wonder Looper is a Japanese knitwear brand founded by Bahzad Trinos and Risa Saito. The brand brings distinctive fabrics to everyday essentials such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies, working with experienced spinning mills, knitting mills, and sewing factories across Japan.
Wonder Looper explores new possibilities in everyday knitwear through distinctive yarns, vintage knitting machines, and Japanese craftsmanship.
The Wonder Looper Story
- Two Founders with Deep Roots in Denim
- It All Started in a Home Embroidery Studio
- Building the Ideal T-Shirt from the Yarn Up
- Heavyweight Was Never the Goal
- From a Side Project to a Global Brand
Two Founders with Deep Roots in Denim
If you are into denim, Bahzad may already look familiar. Chances are you have seen him in a livestream or video breaking down the details of a pair of jeans. Bahzad entered the menswear industry in 2003 and joined Canadian denim brand Naked & Famous in 2009 as its first employee, taking part in its growth from a young company into a global brand.
Risa also spent several years at Naked & Famous and previously worked for Big John, one of Japan’s oldest denim brands. Together, they bring more than 20 years of experience in product development, garment production, and international markets.
Wonder Looper co-founders Bahzad Trinos and Risa Saito.
Drawing on their years in the apparel industry, the two oversee Wonder Looper’s product and fabric development together. From the original Double Heavyweight T-Shirt to the vintage loopwheel-knitted FoxFibre® series and the exceptionally comfortable Ultimate Pima Tsuriami T-Shirt, every fabric has its own distinct character. Wonder Looper has become something of a laboratory for Japanese knitwear.
The FoxFibre® collection uses naturally colored cotton, creating its earthy brown tones without conventional dyeing.
The Ultimate Pima Tsuriami T-Shirt combines high-quality Pima cotton with vintage loopwheel knitting for a soft, breathable, and naturally flexible fabric.
It All Started in a Home Embroidery Studio
Interestingly, Wonder Looper did not begin with a carefully mapped-out plan to launch a clothing brand. It grew naturally from something Bahzad and Risa were already doing at home.
During the pandemic, Risa began practicing hand-guided chainstitch embroidery in their home studio in Yokohama and eventually turned it into a small side business. She embroidered designs on T-shirts, denim jackets, and bags, but the two soon realized that the mass-produced blank tees they were using did not live up to the quality of her detailed embroidery.
That led them to search for better T-shirts. At first, they simply planned to have a factory produce higher-quality white tees. As their standards became more demanding, they eventually decided to create a T-shirt that met their own idea of perfection. That meant starting with the yarn itself.
Wonder Looper began as a small chainstitch embroidery service in their home studio in Yokohama. The quality of the embroidery inspired them to develop a better T-shirt to go with it.
Building the Ideal T-Shirt from the Yarn Up
With decades of experience in the apparel industry behind them, Bahzad and Risa approached the development process with an almost obsessive level of care. Everything, from the cotton and spinning method to the knitting machines and surface texture, had to meet their standards for craftsmanship and character.
They partnered with an experienced knitting mill in Wakayama, Japan, to develop the fabric on vintage circular knitting machines. The result was a 409 GSM jersey weighing approximately 12.1 oz per square yard, nearly twice the weight of a conventional heavyweight T-shirt.
This became Wonder Looper’s signature early release: the Double Heavyweight T-Shirt.
The Double Heavyweight T-Shirt is made from a 409 GSM Japanese jersey weighing approximately 12.1 oz per square yard.
Heavyweight Was Never the Goal
At first glance, the weight may be the most obvious feature of the Double Heavyweight T-Shirt. Look closer, however, and the fabric reveals a rugged, irregular slub texture that is just as important to its character. It is rare to find this kind of vintage texture in a jersey this heavy.
For Bahzad, however, heavyweight fabric is only the result of the development process. Wonder Looper is not interested in being different simply for the sake of it, nor is the brand chasing extremes. The real question is much simpler: does this fabric genuinely excite them?
That question shapes what Bahzad and Risa believe is truly worth making, and it has gradually come to define the spirit of Wonder Looper.
Beyond its substantial weight, the Double Heavyweight T-Shirt features a rugged and irregular slub texture.
From a Side Project to a Global Brand
After the Double Heavyweight T-Shirt was released, it quickly gained attention from denim and quality menswear enthusiasts around the world. What began as a small embroidery side project gradually developed into a complete knitwear brand with seasonal collections and an international retail network.
Today, Wonder Looper offers T-shirts, Henleys, crewneck sweatshirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and other knitted essentials. The brand continues to explore distinctive materials including naturally colored FoxFibre® cotton, Ultimate Pima, Suvin Gold, recycled cotton, yak blends, and cashmere.
At its core, Wonder Looper is still guided by Bahzad and Risa. From their studio in Yokohama, they continue exploring new possibilities in yarn, natural fibers, and knitted fabrics, creating pieces that feel original, celebrate traditional craftsmanship, and are genuinely worth the effort it takes to make them.
What began with one exceptionally heavyweight T-shirt has grown into a complete brand dedicated to distinctive fibers and Japanese knitting traditions.