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KATO by Hiroshi Kato

Founded in 1999, KATO by Hiroshi Kato is a Japanese denim brand that focuses on combining modern advances in fabric comfort, with a love and appreciation for vintage denim and workwear. KATO's love for vintage Americana is shared by many other Japanese denim houses, but they set themselves apart with their focus on comfort, achieved through a very intelligent, "Goldilocks" approach to granting traditionally rigid fabrics stretch while retaining their identities, incorporating a minimal amount of stretch fibres thoughtfully into forgiving weaves so achieve just the right amount of give, rather than simply replacing cotton with stretch fibres, which only serves to drastically shorten the lifespan of the fabric.

KATO's true strength lies in their incredibly strong fabric development, for which they work very closely in partnership with some of Japan's top fabric mills, combining forces to create some seriously comfortable and functional fabrics without compromising the classic aesthetic. The best example of this is their flagship self-developed 4-Way-Stretch Selvedge Denim, offered in multiple fits and multitudes of washes - while retaining the durability and fade potential of selvedge denim, KATO's 4-Way-Stretch opts to weave a minimal amount of stretch in both vertical and horizontal directions, rather than overwhelmingly replacing the cotton content with stretch, as most stretch denim brands do. This approach applies to all of their garments, opting for for loose, yet durable, fabric weaves with inherent give for comfort that retains the look and feel of the original vintage pieces.

KATO runs quite true to size when it comes to their shirts and chinos, however most people find themselves sizing up in the jeans.