Wakayama Daibakusho Kanemasa Raschel x MOON CASTLE (Osaka) / Chambray Cardigans

"We agonized over the best combination for the two of us" (MOON CASTLE / Mr. Tsukihiro)
"We want people who have always worn basic styles to wear this" (Kanemasa Raschel / Mr. Mikenotani)
A collaboration between "Kanemasa Raschel," which excels at high-gauge circular knitting, and "MOON CASTLE," a flat-knit knitter from Osaka handled by Mr. Tsukihiro.
This time, we created a docked knit using merino wool, combining flat knitting and circular knitting. Following up on our previous collaboration, we once again challenged ourselves with an unusual project.
Mr. Tsukihiro's knit factory handled the front body, sleeves, and ribbing. This is MOON CASTLE's standard fabric, knitted with merino wool 30/2 ply (equivalent to 9 count cotton yarn) using a middle gauge (7 gauge). It has the characteristic of being densely knitted, making it resistant to pilling. The ribbing also uses the same yarn as the main fabric, with the utmost attention paid to overall unity.
Kanemasa Raschel handled the back body. Although Kanemasa is known as a super high-gauge knitter, this time they used an 8-gauge super low-gauge fleece knitting machine. This knitting machine has been custom-modified, allowing it to knit a unique fabric called "3D Fleece."
Fleece typically has a three-layer structure of face yarn, middle yarn, and back yarn. However, in "3D Fleece," the middle yarn is skipped (not used), and by using a fine wool yarn (10 count) for the face and a very thick cotton yarn (3 count single yarn) for the back, the back yarn is clearly visible from the front. This creates a three-dimensional effect, hence the name "3D Fleece."
When commercializing the product, the key was to make it iconic and catchy while remaining within the scope of basic styles. To express the warmth of wool, we chose dark brown and camel.
Kanemasa Raschel calls fabrics that appear in two colors "chambray." "Chambray Cardigans" embody the pioneering spirit of both companies, constantly challenging themselves to do what they've never done before.