The Navy Sweatshirt
WHY THIS SWEATSHIRT?
The sweatshirt is very useful, we wear it seven months out of twelve. But how can we get it out of the ordinary? how to give it a shine that immediately attracts attention and makes you want to wear it? Careful in the choice of materials, I looked for something never seen before in textured fleece. I wanted relief but without the exaggerated twists of jacquard, nor the repeating patterns of industrial graphics, I wanted something really new. It was Japanese honeycomb fleece.
STRONG AND LIGHT AS A HONEYCOMB
The construction of cells by bees remains one of the great mysteries of biology. These regularly juxtaposed hexagons reinforce each other and guarantee the whole solidity and lightness. the structure is also naturally elastic because it can move from 6 different sides. These qualities have not escaped aeronautical and textile engineers.
THE FAMOUS JAPANESE HONEYCOMB FLEECE
The structure of this fleece is both a technical feat and a graphic marvel. The cotton is knitted in three dimensions, the threads crisscross to alternate a network of small bumps (reticles) and small niches (cavities) which resemble the cells of a beehive and reveal patterns with beautiful embossed effects.
A 19TH CENTURY TECHNIQUE
The manufacturing technique is pure vintage. These honeycombs are knitted on machines which were all the rage in Europe in the 19th century but which, because of their slowness, were abandoned in 1920. Except for one hundred and fifty of them which, in the Toki factory in Wakayama , near Osaka, are tirelessly knitting high-quality knitwear that could not be produced on the high-speed knitting machines popular in today's factories. It takes these venerable machines around 1 hour to knit just 1 meter of fabric! The advantage of this ancestral method is to preserve the softness of the yarn as much as possible during production. Due to its exceptional qualities and elegance, Japanese honeycomb is synonymous with luxury. It is made available here to everyone.
A FIT BUT NOT TIGHT-FIT
The cut of the sweatshirt is well fitted, that is to say fitted but not tight. With other matters this assertion would be very pretentious; not with these Japanese Honeycombs: their power of elasticity is so effective that they adjust easily - and without compressing them - to the volumes offered to them, and return to their original dimensions as soon as we frees them. You have to make a big mistake to feel cramped in a honeycomb!
