The humble t-shirt started life as a US Navy undershirt, standard issue by the 1900s, before eventually being adopted across the whole military. From there it slid into sportswear, as a training layer for college athletes, and workwear, as cheap, hard wearing kit for labourers and returning servicemen. It didn’t take long for it to end up on the backs of a generation of American icons, namely Marlon Brando and James Dean, forever turning the plain cotton undershirt into an icon.
Japan has always had an osmotic relationship with American culture: borrowing from it, embracing it, but always with an eye towards what made it work in the first place. The tee was no different, and Japan took that history seriously in a way America itself often didn't. Rather than merely copying there was a desire to go back to how it used to be made and rebuild it from there.
Based in Cornwall, Sunray Sportswear make all of their tees in Japan on vintage tubular knitting machines that most factories retired decades ago. The process is slow by design, knitting the body as a single continuous tube rather than cutting and sewing side seams. This gives the fabric a softer, heavier handle that only improves with washing. We love the wide array of brilliantly named colourways, and the fit is classic with just enough extra length in the body to feel considered rather than boxy.
Good On’s tees run boxier and more relaxed than Sunray Sportswear's, but the real story is pigment dyeing. Dyed after construction rather than the yarn beforehand, the colour sits on the surface of the fibre instead of soaking through it. That's what gives Good On tees their vivid, almost chalky colour straight out of the packet, and why they fade so beautifully with age, wearing in like a favourite pair of jeans.
Kapital, out of Kojima in Okayama, built their name on turning denim heritage into something stranger and more collaged: patchwork, boro repair techniques, and Americana filtered through a distinctly Japanese lens. Their tees carry that same restless, hand-me-down character. Danish label Another Aspect centre their approach around minimalism and utility, clean shapes with no unnecessary detail. A small portion of their range, including the striped, long sleeve Another T-Shirts 3.0, are manufactured in Japan specifically for the fabric quality and unusual yarns. Between these two labels you get eccentric maximalism and pared-back restraint, both leaning into quality Japanese production.
Four brands with four takes on the classic tee. Browse a small selection below and click the button to see the full offering.
Regular Taper - Kurabo Recycled Red 14oz Dark Used
Sale price£210.00
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Japanese made tees
