TCB Jeans

TCB Jeans is a small artisanal brand from Kojima specializing in meticulous reproduction of American jeans from the 1920s to 1960s. TCB stands for Taking Care of Business (factory) and Two Cats Brand (label). Every detail is faithfully reproduced: rivets, stitching, patch, fabric. Free international shipping.

Hajime Inoue grew up in Hiroshima in the 90s, during the Japanese vintage denim boom. In junior high, no internet, only magazines. One tiny article mentioned jeans being made in Kojima, Okayama, with a small factory photo. The seed was planted but the kid moved on.

Teenage years spent collecting Japanese repro brands, doing coin laundromat sessions with friends to see fades. Then came the adult question. Inoue wanted to do something with jeans, but first thought of selling. He got a job at Porky's, a jeans shop in Kyoto. He became a good salesman, explaining shuttle looms, Union Specials, Kojima craftsmen to customers. Except he'd never seen any of it. The discomfort grew.

He quit and headed for Kojima. No useful internet, no factory websites. He used phone books from pay phones and called every factory one by one. He found work, learned the craft on the job. In 2012, he launched TCB - Two Cats Brand - in an unassuming building in Kojima. First floor: complete factory with rare vintage machines. Second: retail store. Third: fabric cutting.

Fabric comes from Shinya Mills, one of Japan's last mills weaving on period Toyoda looms. Each model synthesizes two or three vintage pieces, never an exact copy. The 50s and 60s are the classics. Direct sales via Shopify with free international shipping made TCB the absolute darling of enthusiasts: best value in Japanese denim, period.