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Kapital - hippies, Japanese farmers and post-apocalypse survivors

peachfuzzmcgee

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I was actually looking forward to that chamois material on the new button up shirt but found it to just not feel as I wanted. It was just too unimpressive. Im so accustomed to buying vintage flannels and chamois and those usually have a pretty good feel for cheap. 28000 yen or whatever was just too steep for that.

It's funny I was forced to leave Hiroshima and go back to the US for a year and found myself lusting over Kapital stuff. I come back to Kyoto and find myself completed uninterested in the store and miss my access to my sewing machine and mountains of cheap vintage clothing in the united states.

Either way Im interested in the mud-dyed century stuff coming out next month. I also think I saw some century overalls in the Osaka Bazaar store when I passed by. I didn't ask about it, but it was hanging near the sewing machine.
 
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hoodog

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+1 for mud dyed century denim :drool:
 

tdes81

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Speaking of the mud dyed century denim, anyone know any stores it might be dropping in outside of Japan?
 

BandannAlmanac

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I was actually looking forward to that chamois material on the new button up shirt but found it to just not feel as I wanted. It was just too unimpressive. Im so accustomed to buying vintage flannels and chamois and those usually have a pretty good feel for cheap. 28000 yen or whatever was just too steep for that.

It's funny I was forced to leave Hiroshima and go back to the US for a year and found myself lusting over Kapital stuff. I come back to Kyoto and find myself completed uninterested in the store and miss my access to my sewing machine and mountains of cheap vintage clothing in the united states.

Either way Im interested in the mud-dyed century stuff coming out next month. I also think I saw some century overalls in the Osaka Bazaar store when I passed by. I didn't ask about it, but it was hanging near the sewing machine.

That is a major bummer after "lusting" for Kapital stuff.

The Dorozome (mud dyed) Century... I started that idea 3 years ago and even had made some sample sashiko pieces dyed in doro-zome and introduced the dyer they used on Amami-oshima to Kiro. I will say the mud-dyed are the most labor intensive pair made to date. The doro-zome process is really interesting. Only the mordant part incorporates mud, as the iron rich volcanic soil of Amami island provides the right mineral content to produce that rich black.
 

Timbaland

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@BandannAlmanac did you sell bandannas on your webstore and they're just sold out now? I don't see any right now. Any plans to make any dyed tees in the future? I bought a shibori dyed one from your Etsy store a few years ago but sadly lost it.

Do you still style John Mayer? I always wondered how he fit in Kapital, isn't he like 6'4" 200 lbs? Unless you had pieces custom made for him.

It's disappointing the quality of Kapital has gone down. I had been wanting the leopard print fleece. I only have a (kountry?) tee with bandannas sewn on the upper back from a few years ago. It's a beautiful slubby indigo. Sizing has kept me from buying more.

Is the quality on the ring coat still up there? I was looking at the ripstop alpine one specifically.
 

BandannAlmanac

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@BandannAlmanac did you sell bandannas on your webstore and they're just sold out now? I don't see any right now. Any plans to make any dyed tees in the future? I bought a shibori dyed one from your Etsy store a few years ago but sadly lost it.

Do you still style John Mayer? I always wondered how he fit in Kapital, isn't he like 6'4" 200 lbs? Unless you had pieces custom made for him.

It's disappointing the quality of Kapital has gone down. I had been wanting the leopard print fleece. I only have a (kountry?) tee with bandannas sewn on the upper back from a few years ago. It's a beautiful slubby indigo. Sizing has kept me from buying more.

Is the quality on the ring coat still up there? I was looking at the ripstop alpine one specifically.

Bandannas: Those are all on the Two Ears Brand website twoearsbrand.com

Might be making more tees those you can buy from Tezomeya actually.

John stopped wearing Kapital for the most part. John styles himself actually I just offer support when needed and supply advice. He always fit in size 4 just fine. There was a few custom pieces I begged them to make like the quilt ring coat and some other items but usually a standard size 4 was enough.

Most of the current kapital fleece items that have that long wispy fleece is not very nice stuff.
Ring Coat is one of those essential items I would say... the quality hasn't really changed.
 

Spehsmonkey

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Hmm, the “back in my day” vibe is strong on StyleForum lately. I posted something similar on the latest EG thread, but I think the doomsaying is a bit exaggerated. I’d agree lowest-common-denominator items are getting the most hype, but I remain pretty much as impressed with the array of weird Kapital things I can get today as I did 2 years ago or 6 years ago, when I first started looking at the brand. I just ignore most of the dumb hype stuff, though I do have to admit to falling for the smiley watches (hipster qualifier: before they went crazy hype!). I’m sure others are more knowledgeable and studied on the brand and on fashunz, so this is just my two cents.
 

BandannAlmanac

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Hmm, the “back in my day” vibe is strong on StyleForum lately. I posted something similar on the latest EG thread, but I think the doomsaying is a bit exaggerated. I’d agree lowest-common-denominator items are getting the most hype, but I remain pretty much as impressed with the array of weird Kapital things I can get today as I did 2 years ago or 6 years ago, when I first started looking at the brand. I just ignore most of the dumb hype stuff, though I do have to admit to falling for the smiley watches (hipster qualifier: before they went crazy hype!). I’m sure others are more knowledgeable and studied on the brand and on fashunz, so this is just my two cents.

6 years ago... the brand hasn't really shifted all that much, thats also about the time when Kapital changed to two releases per year. Which is when the brand changed the most. I don't think anyone has said anything like "doomsaying", but i guess most people who have known them for more than 6 years are seeing a gradual change in the brand on a micro individual item level. Macro look at the brand the style hasn't really changed nor the weirdness. What has changed is the quality of weirdness in general.
 
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hoodog

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Hmm, the “back in my day” vibe is strong on StyleForum lately. I posted something similar on the latest EG thread, but I think the doomsaying is a bit exaggerated. I’d agree lowest-common-denominator items are getting the most hype, but I remain pretty much as impressed with the array of weird Kapital things I can get today as I did 2 years ago or 6 years ago, when I first started looking at the brand. I just ignore most of the dumb hype stuff, though I do have to admit to falling for the smiley watches (hipster qualifier: before they went crazy hype!). I’m sure others are more knowledgeable and studied on the brand and on fashunz, so this is just my two cents.

Too bad your experience with the brand, apparently, is juuuuuust too short to mean anything :rotflmao:
 

Spehsmonkey

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Interesting, would be curious to see some examples of the types of pieces you’re describing. I was peripherally aware of Kapital more than 6 years ago, but can’t say I paid enough attention to now notice changes in the...flavor, let’s say, of individual pieces.
 

BandannAlmanac

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Interesting, would be curious to see some examples of the types of pieces you’re describing. I was peripherally aware of Kapital more than 6 years ago, but can’t say I paid enough attention to now notice changes in the...flavor, let’s say, of individual pieces.

I already kind of pointed out some technical points regarding a drop in quality. There used to be a great abundance of graphic tees in variable degrees of greatness. There used to just be more effort (i feel) put into the graphics, artwork, and prints and patterns. They're still a few, very few today but it was just a cooler more "wait I have never seen anything like this before" feeling in the pieces in general. Plus those graphics would only be done for one season and not repeated season after season after season like the Ashbury tie dye stuff, the bone prints, the smiley face stuff, the bandanna printed stuff. But even the stuff from just six years ago you will see that a lot of is the same shirt in the different fabric (oftentimes just lower quality). The "standard and reproduction" stuff in the catalog used to take up a page or two at the most, now it feels like half the catalog.

Kountry, used to be overwhelmingly great, with that extra Kapital touch. Now they make dime-store trucker caps, thunderbird sweatshirts, and stuff I just forget...

Things are just flimsy. There used to be more to the brand, a strange brew of nonsense and weirdness... now it feels like its just a corny-gimmick brand hoping you shell out for a new smiley or tie dye or bandanna print. Thats how I feel at least...
 
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Spehsmonkey

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I can’t say we have the same perspective on this, in both meanings of the word, but I appreciate what you’re sharing. I do certainly agree that I see more gimmicky stuff, but I still don’t have any complaints when it comes to quality or wackiness in the pieces I’ve bought over the past few years, which admittedly also hasn’t necessarily been any of their wildest/obscurest stuff perhaps (e.g. southwestern blanket ring coat, 3-2-1 century denim, corduroy duke shirt, etc.).
 

BandannAlmanac

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I can’t say we have the same perspective on this, in both meanings of the word, but I appreciate what you’re sharing. I do certainly agree that I see more gimmicky stuff, but I still don’t have any complaints when it comes to quality or wackiness in the pieces I’ve bought over the past few years, which admittedly also hasn’t necessarily been any of their wildest/obscurest stuff perhaps (e.g. southwestern blanket ring coat, 3-2-1 century denim, corduroy duke shirt, etc.).

They aren't a hype brand at least, even though a lot of their stuff does get hyped, its not by their own effort. Thanks for the appreciation.
I spoke on a topic not too different from this on Blamo! a few months back, and the external hype of Japanese brands and Black (Centurion) Card shoppers ruining good brands and good designers.
 

Spehsmonkey

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They aren't a hype brand at least, even though a lot of their stuff does get hyped, its not by their own effort. Thanks for the appreciation.
I spoke on a topic not too different from this on Blamo! a few months back, and the external hype of Japanese brands and Black (Centurion) Card shoppers ruining good brands and good designers.
LOL, this sounds up my alley. I’ll have to check it out!
 

hoodog

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Thanks for sharing @BandannAlmanac. Very interesting to hear your pov.

I must admit, though, that I have a real soft spot for the bandana print stuff. Hype or no hype. :hide:
 
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