Japan’s first women’s jeans
When digging into the history of women’s jeans, especially the history of the early makers of jeans for women, would it occur to you to look towards Japan? Well the country has a true pioneer in this space, and a formerly very well-known denim label to boot. Today, Betty Smith is more than just a brand.
You may already know that the very first women’s jeans, called Lady Levi’s, were released in 1934. You may even have seen Marilyn Monroe wearing a cool pair of jeans in “The Misfts”. You might have heard that a few other well-known denim brands ventured into women’s styles, such as Lee Cooper with the very first women’s jeans with a zipper fly. That was in the 1950s, and it was quite a shocker at the time.
But have you ever heard of Betty Smith Jeans? Its story begins in the city of Kojima, in the denim famous Okayama prefecture. This is where a garment maker, Maruoka Hifuku, started manufacturing school uniforms in 1927. Then the information that I was told personally, in Japan, differs a bit from what denim history books say. This is what I was told: when Maruoka Hifuku began making corduroy pants in the early 1930s, the company was approached by Levi’s. And, as Betty Smith Jeans general manager Toshio Oshima told me when I visited the factory, Levi’s had denim fabric yardage sent from the United States for testing by Maruoka Hifuku. Whatever the truth, it sparked a very special and very strong link between the two companies. In the early 1960s, Maruoka Hifuku changed its name to Big John. This name will be familiar to the heritage denim nerds reading this Factory Talk, as it is one of the most prestigious Japanese denim brands and though it nearly disappeared, it has recently begun to re-emerge. In the early 1960s, the company decided to create Japan’s first women’s denim brand, which it called Betty Smith Jeans. Its very first jeans were launched in 1962. The label fast became famous for its rigid jeans which were soon followed by stretch styles.
So that’s the story? No, there’s more. Unfortunately, the success of Betty Smith Jeans did not last, the brand never grew to become ‘world famous’. Still, and owing to our Japanese friends’ taste for history and heritage, the Betty Smith label never went out of business and the company continues to make jeans in its original factory site in Kojima. It employs 45 people and generates a small and respectable ¥60 million in revenues (some €400,000). When I visited, Mr Oshima showed me around the actual factory that usual visitors to the site can only observe through windows.
Imagine a typical Japanese building, which, besides a regular denim manufacturing unit, includes bespoke denim services, where jeans are cut and crafted by hand, one item at a time. Think Savile Row and you’ve got it. Highly skilled Japanese tailors working on your pair of custom jeans.
In 2003 the company converted its former dormitory into what is now the Betty Smith Jeans Museum. It is the only jeans museum in Japan to this day. It presents a full overview of the entire denim value chain, starting with cotton bales and going through spinning, weaving, manufacturing and washing to final product. The machinery on display is vintage more than modern, with a wealth of denim memorabilia from back in the day. The visit finishes in a room full of very old replicas of even older vintage Levi’s jeans along with vintage Japanese denim items. Next to the Museum, denim lovers will find a space where they can manufacture their own pair of jeans and finish them with a large selection of different trimmings.
Mr Oshima also showed me his personal archives which are stored on the second level of the building. Let me tell you, he has several thousands of jeans and denims from all over the world. When I told him that I had learned my denim basics at French denim company Chipie in the late 1980s, he immediately pulled out rare Chipie gems from the past. Simply unbelievable.
One last fun fact. In 2002, Betty Smith Jeans launched Eco-Betty, offering jeans, and I quote, “made from old denim scraps”. This label was in fact introducing what many of today’s jeans brands would call a game-changing revolution in denim. A brilliant, yet difficult-to-achieve sustainable concept of making jeans from 100% pre-consumer waste. In Japan it is humbly called “jeans made from old denim scraps”.
I don’t know what, if its in-depth knowledge of denim or its specific history, has made the people in this land, a quite small area of Japan, so relevant to this art and trade. But I am sure that a deep dive into true denim culture would inspire many of our industry leaders to focus more on the real roots and the sunny side of denim.
The factory includes bespoke jeans making.
All Photos: Tilmann Wröbel
