Studio D'artisan is a staple name in the world of Japanese denim. Founded in 1979, they've been around in the game when Levi's was still manufacturing every 501 out of selvedge denim. They are responsible for a lot of people falling in love with denim, and of course, the brand feels right at home at DC4.
The Osaka-based brand has always been able to surprise. This time it's about the loom they're using for the Studio D'artisan SD-903 jeans, which have been woven on a vintage Toyoda (now knows as Toyota) G3 loom. When the loom was first released it was state-of-the-art, but compared to modern looms it's an antique relic.
And that's precisely why it's special: the slow weaving speeds only let the loom produce about 5 meters of fabric per hour. It's also very hard to operate and as you can imagine, spare parts are hard to come by, if they are available at all. Studio D'artisan has no guarantee the loom will still produce denim in the future, so if you want to get your hands on a piece of Japanese denim history, act fast.
