Kuon Selvedge Denim Trousers

Doro-zome means mud dyeing, and it is practiced on Amami Ōshima, a subtropical island in the Ryūkyū chain, where it has more than a thousand years of history behind it. It works because of two things the island happens to have together. The first is sharinbai, the Yeddo hawthorn, called techi in the Amami dialect, whose bark and wood give a bath extremely high in tannin. The second is the iron in the mud of the island’s wet fields. Cloth is dyed in the techi bath until it is saturated with tannin, then trodden into the mud, and the iron binds to the tannin and darkens. Neither half does it alone. Kuon’s own account of its dorozome is twenty dips in the techi essence followed by the mud, with the whole cycle repeated three times, which is sixty tannin baths and three mud fields for one length of cloth. That is why the result is not a surface color and does not rub off the way indigo does: it is a reaction that has happened inside the fiber, and it produces a brown with no evenness anywhere in it. The trousers themselves are a classic straight leg and they get out of the way.

Why we selected it

Almost nothing reaches us that was dyed by a process rather than in a vat. This is a garment where the color took weeks and where you can see that it did.

Dye process is the through line in this house, and these are the pair that go furthest from indigo while making the same argument.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Japan. Denim, dyed by doro-zome, soaked in mud, with the uneven texture that process produces. Straight leg. Color: Dark Brown.

Fit notes

A classic straight leg in a denim, so it holds its line and takes a few weeks to shape to the wearer. We cannot tell you the weight of this denim and we cannot tell you whether it is sold raw or rinsed, so ask us before choosing for length. What we can tell you is that a mud-dyed cloth has a drier hand than an indigo one of the same weight, because the process leaves mineral in the fiber.

Styling

With the Zip-Up Cotton Shirt, where white against dark brown is the plainest and best version. With the Aizome Sashiko Shirt, if you want the two dye processes in one outfit. Under the Fanage Corduroy Blazer, since olive and mud brown are closer to each other than either is to indigo.

Care

Wash rarely, cold, inside out, and hang to dry. A mud-dyed cloth does not transfer the way indigo does, because the color is bound into the fiber rather than ringed around the yarn, but it will lighten with repeated washing and it will not come back. Keep them out of a hot dryer. Our care guidance covers denim and the rest.

Related pieces

The 13.5oz Indigo Selvedge Denim Trousers are the indigo pair, cotton denim dyed with indigo alone, and the Boro Jacquard Wide Trousers are a cotton denim textile in black. Everything we carry from Kuon is listed together.