Working on this brand collaboration between Okayama Denim and Big John was very exciting because it was one of the first forays of brining selvedge denim into the sustainable arena. Mehervan Sethi, owner of Okayama Denim puts the concept into words most eloquently:
"As we age both as individuals and as a company, we realize the importance of making conscious decisions, as our growth also directly impacts the earth. In 2019 we started with an idea. We wanted to take recycled bamboo and create a fiber yarn from it. The next step was to blend that bamboo yarn with cotton to create a denim composition that manages to be more sustainable than a common 100% cotton denim twill. Supporting us through the trial and error were Big John Jeans, a denim company renowned for being the first Made in Japan Selvedge brand. Together, after multiple sample runs, we present to you a brand new silhouette developed by Okayama Denim coupled with a proprietary 12oz. Cotton x Bamboo Selvedge developed specifically for these jeans. It was important for us to tell this story alongside Big John, as we enter what we hope will begin a more socially & environmentally conscious era for Japanese Selvedge denim."
"Bamboo Forest" Natural Cowhide Leather patch features Japanese kanji for Bamboo (竹, or take).
The ODJB Cotton x Bamboo Flasher is printed on Recycled Japanese paper.
The pocket graphic showcases both the merging of the OD and BJ brands as well as celebrating the fusion of the cotton and bamboo materials used to fabricate the special 12oz selvedge denim for the jeans.
