Vintage Boro Patchwork Pullover Shirt

T-shirt like pullover shirt made of "Upcycled Boro", manually patchworked remnants of vintage Boro fabric. Patchworking is done by "Sashiko Gals". 

・Cotton Jersey neckline
・Zipper on right side for ease of putting on and taking off
・Relaxed fit, semi-dropped shoulder 

100% Cotton, Made in Japan

 *Each piece is one-of-a-kind due to variety of vintage fabrics and manual works. The indigo dye can be faded or transferred to other garments. 

About "Boro"

Boro is now highly regarded as an art form worldwide especially in Europe, but what exactly is a Boro? Let's start from the beginning.

Boro was born before the Edo period (1603-1867). It was born as fabrics for clothing and blanket for winter in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions, where winters are long, snowy, and cold.

At that time, clothing and cotton were very scarce in those regions. Therefore, people continued to wear even the minimum necessary clothing for survival, such as workwear, underwear, and pajamas, until they were worn out and torn.

Even after the clothes were carefully worn until they were torn, people continued to wear it by manually patching another piece of linen, cotton, or Boro onto the holes and then wearing it again. *It is said that this is the beginning of Sashiko stitching.

Every time the clothes were torn again, it was repaired again and again. As a result of repeated repairs, the fabric was layered. The thicker fabric was also used for protection against the cold.

Using strong cotton threads, which were precious at that time, the stitched clothes have a very tasteful look. Repairing precious clothing with precious threads...The layers of fabric, with the old cloth at the bottom and the new cloth at the top, give a sense of the passage of time and the warmth of people's care for their possessions.

The fabrics, which seem to condense a certain Japanese spirit, have come to be recognized around the world as "BORO.

"Lapse of time"

"Taking good care of things"

"Wisdom to enrich lives"

The fusion of all these elements gave birth to Boro.

Incidentally, Boro, which are rare and expensive nowadays, were a symbol of poverty for the people at that time, and when they hung them outside to dry after washing, they hung them in the most difficult-to-see places.

I wonder if the people back then would be surprised if they knew the price of Boro today...

The stitching(Sashiko) technique of making layers of Boro is also filled with the wisdom of the people of that time. I will introduce the Sashiko stitching technique at another time because it is a long story.

Upcycled Boro

The remnants from the production process of KUON's Boro Blazers introduced earlier were kept, not thrown away, and "Otsuchi Sashiko", Sashiko craftsmen who live in the modern age, made patchwork fabrics with their Sashiko.

This fabric is a fusion of the "mottainai spirit" of the people of those days and the people of today, who cherish things. We call it "Upcycled Boro".