From Kasuri Textiles to Denim Manufacturing

Shinohara Textile has been around for more than 115 years. First, could you tell us about your journey to becoming the representative of the company?

I was born and raised in this town of Fukuyama. My family home is right next to the denim factory that our company operates, so it was part of my daily life to watch the factory scene from the windows. I spent my time until graduation from high school in Fukuyama, and then went on to a technological university in Osaka. After graduation, I thought, 'If I'm ever to take over the family business, I'd like to learn about the yarn, which is the pre-process of the fabric,' so I got a job at Taishoboseki.

This spinning company was a unique business that not only supplied the yarn necessary for making fabric according to orders from weaving and knitting factories, but also proposed yarns that included fabric and products. Here, we thought about the overall process from cotton to product, and proposed how to make products in various steps to companies.

At Taishoboseki, I got to study in various production areas and sold a variety of yarns. In addition to Okayama and Hiroshima, which are denim producing areas, I also visited towel makers in Imabari, knit makers in Wakayama, sock makers in Nara, and so on. During my 7 years there, I experienced a lot of things, from machine maintenance at the factory to product development and sales.

Then, I joined Shinohara Textile again to learn all the processes of fabric manufacturing and became President in 2022. Currently, my two younger brothers and I are all active in Shinohara Textile.

Do you still make use of the network cultivated at Taishoboseki?

Yes, we do. I still get a lot of learning opportunities from the customers and companies I interacted with back then.

I visited non-denim textile production areas such as Imabari (towels), Wakayama (circular knitting), and Nara (socks), exchanged information, and made things with common materials.

There are various textile production areas in Japan, and each area has its own unique fabrics. We combine these techniques with our denim production area, especially with the indigo rope dyeing technique used in denim, which fades and changes and is unique to this area (Hiroshima, Okayama).

We're advancing the development of non-denim fabrics, experimenting with weaving denim with soft yarns for knitting, and exploring new possibilities day by day.

We have built a relationship where we sell these new fabrics together, buy and sell fabrics, and help each other to create better products.