Big John

Big John is Japan’s oldest denim brand and likes to keep things simple. That’s not to say it lacks imagination or quality. Far from it. In 1940 Kotaro Ozaki started out designing and manufacturing school and work uniforms under the name of “Maruo”. After the WWII the company started dealing in used jeans from the American soldiers and its success lead to the legal import of these second hand jeans. However, the American sizes weren’t ideal for the Japanese waist, which lead the company to import American denim from the Canton Mills in 1963 and design their own jeans adopting the name of Canton/Maruo. In 1967 they switched to Cone Mills denim, the main supplier of Levi’s fabrics, and released the first model

M1002 under the name Big John. Levi’s wasn’t pleased with this collaboration and blamed Cone Mills for shipping so much fabric overseas. This made Canton/Maruo search for an alternative and they found one in the Japanese Kurabo mill that produced their denim fabric from 1972 on. A decade later Big John adopted “Quality Comes First” as their company motto and developed the world’s first uneven yarns (on purpose, that is) and created its RARE selvedge denim woven on shuttle looms. In short, these guys are all about traditional craftsmanship but are not afraid to look ahead to innovative ways to take their brand even further. You don’t know where you’re going, until you know where you came from.

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