Inside Hiroshi Kato – Making a Pair of Jeans in their LA Factory

See how a Japanese-American brand makes a pair of jeans from start to finish in the largest production facility in the US.

David Shuck, images by Sarah Houston

It’s a life goal of mine to own a Toto Washlet. When I first visited Japan about 15 years ago, I left with a newfound love of two things: raw denim and Japanese robotic bidets. The discovery of the first has forever altered my life and career, the second still sits like a rarefied ideal that I hope I will someday have in my grasp.

If there’s one thing to know about the production behind denim brand Hiroshi Kato, it’s that everyone who makes their jeans—from the people who design them, cut the patterns, sew on the pockets, and finish them—all 300 of them have “made it” by my standards because they have Washlets in every toilet in the facility. This is an obvious shorthand that the place is advanced, human-centric, cares about their workers, and yes, very clean.

I’ve toured a lot of factories in my time, and Kato’s facility strikes the balance as being just big enough to do everything but not so big it’s overwhelming. They have state of the art cutting and washing alongside vintage sewing machines like their antique Union Special off-the-arm caballo that’s certainly older than everyone in the building. So come along with me as we see how a pair of Hiroshi Kato jeans are made in this incredible facility in LA that produces a million pairs a year.

The KATO Offices

Kato’s offices are tucked away in the back of the factory between the sanding and grinding stations. This is where you’ll find Creative Director Nick Takayuki and the team, hard at work running their webstore, connecting with distributors, and designing their next season.

Right next to the current collection is a sampling of Nick’s personal vintage collection he uses as inspiration and reference. He shared with us a unique pair of promotional Lee jeans that had a 5×1 weave and giant exposed rivets.

Once Nick has his ideas together, the team sends the samples into production, which happens just down the hall from their offices.

Fabric and Cutting

All of Kato’s denim comes from Japan, so the journey starts with a roll of their 4-way stretch selvedge on a roll freshly delivered from LAX a few miles away.

Then it’s time to cut. The facility has state of the art fabric spreaders, but with Kato’s narrow 31″ rolls of selvedge, it’s best do do it by hand.

Sewing

Then it’s on to sewing. Kato uses a mix of modern machines like the Juki lockstitch machine above alongside vintage ones like the off-the-arm Union Special below to double flat fell the back quarters together.

Trims and Finishing

Once a jean is sewn, it gets labeled, riveted, and patched.

And then hot pressed to get all the wrinkles out.

Quality Control

The final step is a more than 20-point quality check to remove any stray threads and make sure every jean and garment is complete.

Nick with a finished pair of Kato jeans.

Distressing

We’re of course biased towards Kato’s raw jeans, but they do all of their distressing and laundering in house as well.

I’ve tried sanding jeans at a factory like this a few years ago, and it really is a physical work of art to sand these patterns in, not to mention the strength and endurance needed to make these motions for hours and hours per day.

And I will always find a pair of jeans being inflated on a pair of balloon legs hilarious.

Washing

From here, jeans are put through the wash with detergents, rocks, and enzymes a to get the desired effect. I’ll stick with doing it myself, but it is a sight to behold a washing machine the size of a dump truck spilling a hundred pairs of jeans into a laundry basket.

Fulfillment

Raw or washed, they end up here on this loading dock, ready to make their journey to their new owner.

I had a lovely visit and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Kato’s production and their team. If you would like to meet a jean, jacket, or shirt that’s gone through this process, have a look at Kato’s collection on their site.

You can currently save up to 50% on their Black Friday sale that runs through December 2nd.

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