Wakayama Daibakusho | FUJIN DAIBAKUSHO Yokozuna Sumo (Sweatshirt)

Using "Cycle Cotton®"
“FUJIN DAIBAKUSHO” is confident in reproducing vintage sweatshirts, especially from the 1960s and 70s, focusing on American casual wear. This is supported by old-fashioned knitting machines and extensive experience in recreating thousands of types of garments. This time, we have recreated the classic T-shirts and hoodies that FUJIN DAIBAKUSHO excels at, using 100% recycled cotton. We interviewed the representative, Masaya Fujin.
──What were your first impressions when you saw “Cycle Cotton®”?
Fujin: Honestly, I didn't have high expectations until I saw the actual product. Most recycled yarns, called 'hanmo', use only about 30% recycled material. The fiber length is short, so virgin cotton must be blended. Therefore, when I heard it was 100% recycled, I was skeptical, and I was surprised when I saw the actual product. The quality is comparable to 100% virgin cotton, which is amazing technology. At the same time, I thought that with this yarn, we could create the American vintage style that our company specializes in.
──Please tell us about the key features of American vintage.
Fujin: Old American standard T-shirts use thick yarns, around count 12-14. While this yarn is suitable for T-shirts, it becomes too thick when knitting sweatshirts, leading to low versatility and eventual discontinuation. This time, we have recreated this thick yarn count using recycled cotton. By combining Cycle Cotton® counts 20 and 35, we achieve a yarn of approximately count 13.75, similar to vintage T-shirt yarns. We then knitted this into a jersey fabric. The two yarns create a slub effect, bringing it closer to the vintage look.
──What about the hoodies?
Fujin: We recreated the standard sweatshirt yarn, 30/10 (Santo), using Cycle Cotton®.
──Santo is a fleece fabric that uses yarns of count 30 for the face, count 30 for the middle, and count 10 for the back, right?
Fujin: Yes. This time, we used Cycle Cotton® count 35 for the face yarn to achieve a slight lightness, and blended it with count 20 for the back yarn to give the back loops a bit of volume.
──You can feel the natural vintage texture of Cycle Cotton®.
Fujin: We also used organic cotton for the middle yarn. Both the T-shirts and hoodies are made with materials that comply with SDGs. For dyeing and finishing, we worked with Toyosenshi Kogyo, who are experts in vintage reproduction, and restored the fabric's natural loft using vintage winching dyeing machines and steam tumblers. We believe we have created a product that we can be proud of, while also keeping the concept of the Expo in mind.
“Yokozuna Sumo” refers to a sumo wrestler who calmly receives an opponent's attack, brings the match to their own strength, and wins without any signs of struggle. This is a solid product from FUJIN DAIBAKUSHO, which fearlessly brought the challenge of “Cycle Cotton®” into their specialty of American vintage.