

For many years, Sugar Cane Jeans were a ferociously guarded Japanese secret but today the brand is attracting global attention. Interestingly, Sugar Cane prefer to use the vintage term ‘dungarees’ in preference to the term ‘jeans’ to describe their product: “The word ‘jeans’ has become the vernacular for faux denim fashion wear that masquerades as the tough, classic waist overalls history made famous.”
Sugar Cane Jeans are cut from original and truly outstanding Japanese selvage denim. Japanese selvage denim is arguably the finest in the world and is made on old style shuttle looms rather than modern projectile looms. In simple terms this means that the cross thread goes back and forth during the weaving process. Modern looms shoot each cross thread through individually, hence the edge of the cloth is frayed rather than clean. No shuttle looms have been made for over 40 years as they can only make cloth about 30 inches wide whereas projectile looms can make cloth 60 inches or even wider for much less money.
It is recommended that you soak Sugar Cane Denim in water before wear. The fabric is woven by old type power looms. Due to the low speed in weaving, the surface is rough. The fabric is raw with no pre shrink treatment and shrinks by soaking for a perfect fit. It is important that the leg length is adjusted after soaking in water.
After washing non-washed raw selvage-denim jeans shrinkage will occur both in waist size (approx ½-1 inch) and leg length (approx 3 inches) and the final inside leg length measurement should be around 34 inches. It usually takes at least 3-4 washes to achieve the final measurement but sometimes additional washes may be needed. Never have your non-washed raw selvage-denim jeans shortened to your desired length until final measurement has been achieved via washing. Please note: Due to the erratic characteristics inherently associated with the raw, heavy cotton turned into denim produced on the old shuttle looms, waist measurement can fluctuate by about 1" smaller than the label on the jeans states.
Washing instructions: Wash in cold water only, by hand or washing machine. DO NOT WASH IN HOT WATER. By washing in hot water, the indigo blue dye will lose its natural shade.
Laundry detergent: Avoid use of any detergent when soaking before wear. Use only when soiled as detergents will wash out the indigo blue. Beware of using detergents with fluorescent contents as this will change the natural colours.
According to Sugar Cane's UK Brand Director, Paul Morarji, organic denim is nothinh new. "We have always offered an organic denim, ever since we started producing denim in 1975", he says.
