DUBBLE WORKS / Heavyweight Short Sleeve Tee Pigment Dye Sumikuro

Dubble Works Thick Pigment Dye Sumikuro T-shirt

• 100% cotton / 9oz
• Straight fit
• Double-stitched round neckline
• Pigment dye
• "loopwheel" tubular construction
• Reinforced single stitching
• Made in Japan

Dubble Works was created over 10 years ago by the Japanese label Warehouse & Co. and is now under the management of Sankei Meriyasu. Historically, it is a knitting company founded in 1926, renowned for manufacturing very high-quality sweatshirts and t-shirts. Indeed, for making their cotton jerseys, they mainly use old circular weaving machines from the 1920s called "loopwheelers".

To create this piece, Dubble Works chose another industrial machine, also old and circular, called "Standwheeler", designed and initially created in Wakayama, Japan. Rare and difficult to operate, only a handful of craftsmen are capable of operating it. The cotton jersey obtained by the Standwheelers is very different from the classic loopwheel t-shirts. Indeed, these machines allow spinning a much thicker yarn than the norm. This results in a fabric that is both thick and robust yet still breathable. Moreover, the Japanese label integrates shorter fibers from the remnants of the combing process into the weave. This addition provides texture and irregularity. This is the Raffy yarn, historically the first made from recycled cotton.

The Sumikuro shade, meanwhile, is achieved through pigment dyeing, applied after the garment is made, which gives the fabric a washed-out look and an uneven color that will intensify with time and washes.