Inlay Loopwheele T-Shirt
This is inlay-knitted shirt is made from aged cotton on a loopwheel machine. Cotton is usually transported in compressed bails, but by slowly maturing it in a temperature and humidity-controlled room for 30 to 50 days, we were able to restore the compressed cotton to its original plump and fluffy glory. It is with this aged cotton that we spin up our threads and have them knitted on a vintage machine in Wakayama.
Under normal conditions, these old loopwheel machines can only produce about 1 meter of fabric per hour. In our case however, because we are using high-gauge thread for difficult inlay knitting, only about 48cm of fabric per hour is possible. It may sound inefficient and time consuming, but the result is a small quantity of soft material that is almost moist to the touch and, while being quite thick, stretches less than standard hanging knitted fabric. We’ve also taken the silhouette into consideration, and even though this is knitted on a loopwheel machine, it features split sides.
On this T-shirt we’ve tried to convey a realistic expression through photography using hand-printing instead of using the usual inkjet method. A photograph was taken of a worn pair of our much-loved Bushido denim (a.k.a. Zero denim) and made to look like the denim is actually sewn on. Inkjet printing can indeed produce a very clear image, but it just doesn’t look that realistic because the colors tend to fade rather quickly. We’ve therefore used silkscreening to make it appear as real as possible.
**Please understand that there may be slight color variations between items due to the varied force applied during this very delicate printing method.
| SJST23-107 | ||||
| Length | shoulder | Chest | Sleeve | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 59.5 | 41 | 45 | 17 |
| M | 62 | 43 | 47 | 17.5 |
| L | 64.5 | 45 | 50 | 19.5 |
| XL | 67.5 | 47 | 53 | 20.5 |
| XXL | 69 | 49 | 56 | 21.5 |