Hanami literally means ‘flower viewing’ in Japanese, but that doesn’t begin to cover it. Hanami is the tradition of observing the bloom of cherry blossoms every spring to welcome the new season and to celebrate the fleeting beauty of the blossoms that last only a week or two as a representation of seeing beauty in the ever-changing natural world.
Its transience is also one of raw denim’s most beautiful characteristics. A rigid pair of jeans dark dark indigo in color, folds crisply, moves stiffly with every step you take, but then the fabric relents and softens, stretches to accommodate your form, the indigo dye chipping off first to reveal electric medium blues and then the white undyed yarn as the denim becomes yours, a dynamic companion and a reflection of how you’ve lived over the life cycle of the jeans.
The Hanami Selvedge weaves cherry blossoms into the fabric as a representation of this wonderful tradition of finding beauty in what passes. There are falling cherry petals woven into the selvedge ID, and the weft of the fabric is dyed a light pink – the color of the blossoms themselves.
