The Strike Gold is undoubtedly one of the benchmark brands when we speak of Japanese denim. Established in Kojima, in Okayama Prefecture, the Hamamoto family has been focusing all its efforts for more than 10 years on producing denim, sweatshirts, shirts and belts of the very highest quality one can find today. Their denim fabrics, unique in the world for their texture, composition, incredible irregularity, stiffness, roughness and character, delight denim devotees around the planet. As with denim, the rest of the garments made by The Strike Gold are a clear example of supreme quality and tradition. This is the case with their sweatshirts and loopwheel (tubular) T-shirts made in the Wakayama workshop, one of only two workshops in the world still keeping in operation after more than 100 years the tubular textile production machines that allow seamless garments to be made.
Tohru Hamamoto, the label’s chief, is constantly on a quest for absolute perfection in each one of his products, made from the best materials by the best artisans with expertise in the manufacture of “Kibata” (the Japanese term that defines raw denim). All products produced by The Strike Gold are notably stiff, from the denim to the leather accessories, the result of always searching for the best raw materials, the most virgin materials possible. Consequently, The Strike Gold jeans make for difficult wearing the first times, but bit by bit they will yield after the first few uses and result in a comfortable garment that moulds to the body like a second skin. Thanks to the spectacular fade the denim acquires over the years, The Strike Gold jeans always achieve a unique character.
Thanks to this exaltation of quality, we will encounter details such as a different type of seam for each pair of jeans (some of them sewn on antique Union Special machines), iron buttons and rivets typical of the brand, the use of cotton from Zimbabwe, etc. These fabrication details, together with their incredible fabrics, make these some of our favourite jeans for their resilience, stiffness and texture. The feeling of wearing a pair of Strike Gold jeans is unique.
