Hiroshi KATO – The New Comfort of Classic Vintage Denim

Japanese turned American brand Hiroshi Kato melds authenticity and comfort without missing a step.

David Shuck

Raw denim is often synonymous with masochism. As fabric weights get higher, starch gets stiffer, and hips begin to bleed for the “authentic” fading experience.

What if there was another way? Hiroshi KATO would like to offer you one. The Japanese-American denim and workwear brand has been producing a full range inspired by designer Nick Takayuki’s own vintage collection for over a decade. If you’ve decried stretch before, think again until you’ve seen their their uniquely developed four-way stretch selvedge.

We’re diving into Hiroshi KATO and the intersection of authenticity and comfort.

A Lifelong Love of Denim

Nick was born in Japan in 1970 and got his first taste of a Levi’s 501 when he was 10 years old. Like many in this scene, though, one wasn’t enough, and he soon began spending whatever spare money he had building a collection of vintage denim and workwear. This love would translate into a career.

In the early 1990s, Nick began a 20 year stretch of working in nearly every aspect of Japanese denim production. Fabric development, product design, dyeing, cut-and-sew, washing and finishing, it was all under his umbrella directing various brands and retail stores, but he never had the opportunity to develop a brand for himself.

He wanted to make jeans that took inspiration from his love of vintage and that would age gracefully alongside the people who wore them, but that you didn’t have to swing a pickaxe in a goldmine to break in. He loved how the core elements of jeans stayed the same for decades, but evolved subtly in their fabric, buttons, and rivets.

It was these ideas that formed the foundation of the Hiroshi KATO brand.

What Makes a Hiroshi KATO Garment?

Nick hopes that what he designs will be worthy of someone’s own vintage collection someday, meaning they need to stand the test of time, never go out of style, and remain functional no matter what year it is.

KATO’s unique factor is that comfort is just as important to Nick as style and durability. Every item should feel good to the person who wears it and enable, not restrict, them in their daily lives. The marriage of these philosophies is most evident in KATO’s proprietary 4-way stretch selvedge denim. It’s a fabric that took Nick years to develop with several of the top mills in Japan, and only one was able to produce it.

It’s a shuttle-loomed fabric that stretches in all directions, making it one of the most accessible options for anyone new or old to raw denim. And yes, as you can see, it fades.

Milled in Japan, Sewn in LA

Nick spent most of his career in Japan but chose to design and produce Hiroshi KATO in the United States. Since 2015, they’ve had their offices and denim production right next to each other in the Los Angeles city of Gardena.

While most brands design their collections an ocean away from where they’re made, Nick and his design team can see their garments on the line just a short walk away. This allows them to develop new products quickly, work in small batches, and keep production quality high.

What’s On Offer

Kato offers four fits, from the skin-tight Needle, tapered Scissors, slim straight Pen, and straight fit Hammer. You can see full comparisons on their site here.

They all come in a variety of KATO’s stretch selvedge fabric, including weights from the light 10.5oz. to heavier 17.5oz. and colors like your standard black and indigo but also lesser seen shades like white, brown, and green.

Beyond jeans, Nick’s vintage inspiration comes through in items like their A-2 inspired Propellor jacket, bleu de travail-esque Vise chore coat, and Ripper flannel shirts.