Our experience with ONI began in 2006, when we discovered their jeans in Superfuture. Oishi had started to make his first models and a couple of adventurous contributors to the Superfuture forum had dared to order the jeans knowing absolutely nothing about the brand and with practically no photos to go on. At that time it wasn’t as simple as now; as you know, ONI has never had a website or an online catalogue. Besides, at the time there was no Instagram, no reviews on Youtube and the content devoted to Japanese denim on social media was almost non-existent, so ordering jeans from Japan, from a brand of which absolutely nothing was known and on which it was practically impossible to find any information, not even in Japanese, turned into a crazy yet highly exotic and exciting endeavour.

Our relationship with the Japanese Denim of that time had already started to become an obsession. We found ONI a different style from what was on offer from repro brands, so when we saw the first pair of ONI jeans in person, we were tremendously impressed.

The fact is that Oishi is a master who combines unique textures with all kinds of modern cuts. Over these past years the brand has evolved in an astonishing way, with Mr. Oishi unceasingly and continuously experimenting with new fabrics, new cuts, new dyes. Oishi has extensive experience and tradition behind him, but also a very forward-looking approach and incredible vitality. From that very moment we fantasized about how incredible it would be to show ONI and all those other small Japanese labels to the western world.

It was in October 2019, on one of our visits to Japan, that we were able to meet Mr. Oishi in person in his village. We spent hours and hours with him, fascinated with his story: his beginnings with his father, how he managed to become one of the first people behind Levi’s Japan, his knowledge of fabric techniques, rope dyeing, cottons and his vision of what denim is. From that moment on our relationship with Oishi became much closer; the first pairs of ONI jeans arrived in our store in early 2020 and we were able to show all his new creations to the world.

We speak with Mr. Oishi almost daily. He tells us about what he has in mind, what he is trying out and what he is about to try out, and in one of our conversations we mentioned that our third anniversary was coming up. Oishi said: Hey, why don’t we do something? And that very day we got down to work to evolve this collaboration.

This fabric is 14oz. It is really thick and sturdy for being an Oxford but at the same time it feels light and comfortable. The very special khaki brown is achieved through sulphur dyeing. The combination of Heavy Oxford + Sulphur dyeing is perfect. This fabric really cross that bridge between refined and rugged very well.

Canvas and Oxford cloths are usually dyed with reactive dyeing after weaving with white thread, but, in this old school sulphur dyeing technique, the yarns are dyed before weaving to get a unique depth and, of course, beautiful fades after each wash. The fabric is sanforized, but we chose to wash each pair of jeans in cold water and dry them in the sun to give them an extra touch of comfort, remove any excess dye and in this way improve the colour, giving it an even more unique touch with a slightly worn effect.

Right from the start we had a clear idea for the design: joining together the ONI and Redcast logos in a perfect drawing that would unite the West and Japan, with craftsmanship taking centre stage. The result speaks for itself...

All the hardware is made of copper and has undergone a blackening process to get an elegant and contrasted look.

The patch is cut from premium deer leather. We opted to stitch the leather patch after the tempi treatment. That was very costly because the jeans needed to return to the sewing workshop after the "Tempi" treatment (the one wash process). However, we did that to get the best look. This type of leather has excellent quality properties but shrinks so that it could lose some of the details of the patch design after tempi treatment. That will not happens using the machine wash.

For the stitching, we opted for tonal-brown seams to get a minimalist look. However, the patch has been stitched with yellow seams to combine better with the natural colour of the leather.

In one of our conversations with Mr. Oishi he told us that he had really good relations with one of the most emblematic and traditional nylon bags workshops in Tokyo and that he was thinking of doing some trials with them. Among others, he spoke of his idea of creating an ONI Sacoche that would be convenient and practical for everyday use, so right then and there we thought this would make the perfect gift.

The Sacoche fabric chosen to accompany the collaboration jeans is in a very special navy colour, woven in a triple-layer technical nylon (the same nylon as the mythical flight jackets). The craftsmanship that goes into making this piece is present from the cut of the fabric to the seams, not forgetting a perfect ONI logo embroidery in the bottom right-hand corner.

This ONI Sacoche includes a large pocket with two compartments and sealed zipper in which to carry your mobile phone, wallet, notebook or whatever, fully protected from the rain.

We chose the ONI Sacoche in Navy so that it would perfectly match the khaki colour of the collaboration jeans. The strap can be adjusted so that the bag sits on the side of the body or on the back, making it comfortable while providing an urban touch that we personally adore.

This shoulder bag has a high retail price of 56 euros, so the margin we are left with from each pair of jeans we sell is really low. But we did not dream up this collaboration to make money but to make the most of the great opportunity of working with Oishi, designing jeans that would reflect personality and would only be found on the Redcast site. Besides, we wanted to thank you for all the support you have given us, so we hope that you, too, think that the ONI Sacoche bag is a perfect gift.