Desciption

The ISHIKAWADAI spinning machine, a 70 years old machine from 1953, is one of the longest-serving spinning machines in Japan today(probably the oldest in the world as well). This Ishikawadai denim has the appearance of a vintage 50s denim made from slubby yarns. But atually it utilizes "straight yarns" rather than the common "slub yarns" for Japanese selvedge denim. The reason is the yarns spinned by Ishikawadai machine come with an organic vintage appearance that is no where to be found. Using this yarn for both warp and weft. In combination with a vintage shuttle loom, the result is a truly authentic and atrisanal double ring spung denim like you see here.

The weaving speed of Ishikawadai machine is only about one-third of the modern ring spinning machine. It seems to be inefficient, but in exchange it produces a very high-level finished product. Yarns spinned by Ishikawadai sing spinning machines often have a hand-spun feel close to hand-spun yarns due to its old mechanisam and slow made nature.

ONI uses size of 6 yarns for  Ishikawadai spinning machines as the base for this denim, and uses old-fashioned shuttles from the 1950s. The yarn is slowly woven into a fabric full of concave and convex textures, dyed with a blue-green tone, which is the reminiscent of the Secret Denim series, and also shows nostalgia of a old-times jeans style.

There is only 1 loom that are able to produce ONI Ishikawadai denim in the world. It can experience failure or breakdown anytime. Making the denim extra precious and valuable.

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What's cool about the hand feel of this double ring spun denim is that it is super soft and crispy at the same time. When putting aside other vintage style jeans, the iconic blue hue of a secret denim undoubtedly makes it stand out but not too loud to put on. The unique construciton by ONI lends it an air-ventilating wear experience which is the best part about ONI I like.

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Sven, Store Manager

History of ring spinning machine

The ring spinning machine was invented by John Thorp in the United States in 1828 and was put into practical use in the 1840s, mainly for spinning thick fabrics. However, in Japan, it was adopted in the field of thick yarns around 1890. Over time, automation progressed to improve efficiency and quality, resulting in the production of "faster" and "straighter threads" using computer control, as well as the ability to produce various shapes of uneven threads (slub threads).

Ishikawa Ring Spinning Machine

In 1953, Ishikawa Seisakusho Co., Ltd. manufactured a Japanese-made ring spinning machine called "Ishikawa-dai," which is said to be the oldest spinning machine still operating in Japan, as the manufacturer has no records of earlier ones.

Comparing to the latest ring spinning machines, "Ishikawa-dai" spins at a slower speed of about one-third, resulting in lower productivity. When comparing to an open end spinning machine, which is 5 times faster than modern ring spinning machine, Ishikawa takes 15 times more in the yarn spinning process than the mass produced open end denim.

Due to less stress on the cotton, it retains the gentle texture of the original cotton, and the natural expression that cannot be produced by computers, making it appear as if it were hand-spun yarn (uneven). This is a unique feature of "Ishikawa-dai."

Size Chart