When Hajime Inoue started TCB back in 2012, he was more fond of the classic vintages like 501XX model, 66 model because those vintages appeared perfect for him back in the days. Still, as he's got more skilled at making jeans and more knowledgeable about reproducing vintages faithfully, he started to find more beauty in the imperfections.
The simplified models are full of preliminary work, and it's far from perfection, but they are full of history. The cut, construction, and tiny details are faithfully reproduced in this pair from the original Levi's 501 1922. TCB 20's is one of the brand's iconic models, inspired by the vintage from the days when people used to wear jeans with suspenders and a cinch back for the size adjustment.
For the 20's, TCB created a proprietary fabric. First, they choose Memphis cotton to make the authentic vintage look and eventually, the fades. The yarn count for both the warps and the wefts is 8, making it 12.5oz denim fabric with deep blue indigo colour, which is also the characteristic you can see in the jeans back then.
The unevenness and softness are carefully reproduced by the setting on the vintage Toyoda shuttle looms and the 8 yarn count Memphis cotton recipe.
The fit is faithfully reproduced from the original Levi's 501 1922. A regular straight fit with a very high rise and a good amount of space in thighs, knees and calves, thus achieving a very comfortable while classic fit.
Every tiny detail is faithfully reproduced from the original, like the suspenders, the cinch back or the wide white selvedge. In the 30s, it became what we all like, the red ID, but in the 20s, the jeans used to have this wide and white selvedge. So in order to reproduce it, TCB added extra eight threads for the production of this exclusive 20's fabric. A piece of different fabric is used on the belt loops because that was how it used to be when belt loops were added after the production of jeans itself, as the demand for the belt loops gradually increased in that era.
TCB (which stands for Two Cats Brand or Taking Care of Business) is a Japanese label founded in Kojima by Hajime Inoue in 2012. It specializes in reproductions of the classic American denim icons produced from the 1920s to the 1960s. Among his garments, we can find some of the highest-quality reproductions we have ever seen, made in his own workshop on sewing machines more than a hundred years.
