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00:00A small sewing factory in the mountains of Okayama.
00:06The jeans that were born in this place are now surprising the world's fashion world.
00:12The world is amazing.
00:14The blue-blue color of the jeans changes to a light blue color with the passage of time.
00:19These jeans are like magic.
00:22Beautiful.
00:24The name is Rainbow Jeans.
00:28Uchida Hosei, who has more than 50 years of history,
00:31put the techniques and pride he accumulated in this place together.
00:34He made the jeans and sent them to the world.
00:40I was really surprised. It was beyond my imagination.
00:43It was really cool.
00:46Although the reputation in the market was good,
00:49fate gave the company a tough trial.
00:53In 2018, there was a huge disaster in western Japan.
00:59Rainbow Jeans, of course,
01:01and the dream that the company had,
01:03all went down the drain.
01:07I couldn't take such a risk in a small place like my house.
01:11But I gave up and gave up on re-production.
01:17However, hope never ceases.
01:22Two young sons, who are in their 20s, stood up.
01:26It was like a one-shot game.
01:29It was a very risky challenge.
01:32Once the dream was over.
01:35However, their young power breathed a new life
01:38and lit the light of hope again.
01:42One that decided the rainbow-colored brilliance that overturned the common sense of jeans.
01:47It's coming to the other side of the rainbow.
01:53The rainbow-colored future.
01:55The miracle of challenge spun by Hosei Muchida.
01:59TSUYAMASHI
02:16Tsuyamashi is located in a quiet mountainous area in the north of Okayama Prefecture.
02:22Hosei Muchida
02:24This is the town of Hosei Muchida,
02:26which has a history of 1969.
02:31There are 36 employees.
02:37They mainly produce handmade jeans.
02:42Their work is truly a craftsmanship.
02:46The precision of each strand of thread.
02:51It is also a skill recognized by the dealer.
02:56The top brand in the jeans industry is...
03:00It's very detailed.
03:02There are many places that support us in terms of millimeter units.
03:07We have been able to raise those places without hesitation.
03:13What is the precision of the millimeter unit?
03:18We were able to see one of Hosei's techniques in the company's factory.
03:24The back pocket of the jeans is quite flower-shaped.
03:28It's a place where the craftsmanship shines.
03:31What the craftsman is doing now is...
03:33It's a process of stitching 2 mm from the edge of the fabric of the pocket.
03:38It's a place where there's no mark, right?
03:40Yes, that's right.
03:41It's a place where you can sew as you wish.
03:45Is this really 2 mm?
03:48I think it's about 2 mm.
03:51Let's measure it right away.
03:55It's definitely 2 mm.
03:58Just by looking at the distance between the eyes and hands,
04:01the width of 2 mm is sewn accurately.
04:04The precision and technology are the pinnacle of craftsmanship.
04:09I think the greatest strength of our factory is that it can be sewn cleanly, precisely, and quickly as requested.
04:19How is such a craftsman's technique structured?
04:23The answer was in the scene of lunch break.
04:27Lunch break?
04:29It's 12.45 p.m.
04:32Normally, they should be taking a break.
04:35The employees are sitting in front of the sewing machine and working on something.
04:40Of course, it's not that they haven't achieved their work standards.
04:47What are you making?
04:48I'm making my own g-chan.
04:51Is it okay to make it yourself?
04:53It's okay to make it yourself.
04:56In fact, in the company, it is allowed to make whatever you like freely during lunch break.
05:03This is their own effort to get used to the sewing machine and improve their skills.
05:08In the third year, they even made such a surprising work.
05:13It's cool.
05:15In this way, the employees have improved their skills and have met the expectations of the jeans maker.
05:23However, President Uchida has had concerns for many years.
05:29I can pay the employees and do something,
05:33but I can't do more than that for the employees who work hard.
05:41The employees who have supported the company so far
05:44have walked with us without saying a word when they have no work, are in a difficult time, or are in a difficult situation.
05:52President Uchida was deeply grateful for that,
05:55but at the same time, he was always worried that he hadn't done anything for them.
06:04In order to fully repay the company's profits to the employees,
06:09President Uchida decided to launch his own brand.
06:16However, the road was not flat.
06:19There were many difficult trials waiting for him.
06:25Your skills are amazing.
06:29You can sew at that speed.
06:31I can even sew with a rag.
06:35I'm surprised that your own brand, Rainbow, is so beautiful.
06:42Mr. Naoyuki Uchida of Uchida Sewing has come to the studio.
06:46Nice to meet you.
06:49Mr. Naoyuki is the brother who revived Rainbow Jeans.
06:55Is the company only doing sewing for jeans?
06:59Yes, this industry is becoming more and more divided.
07:03Our main job is sewing,
07:06but we have a fabric shop in front of the sewing shop,
07:09we have a cutting process,
07:11and we process the damage.
07:13Uchida Sewing is mainly in charge of sewing.
07:17You are a professional sewing in VTR.
07:20Yes.
07:21Our staff is mean.
07:23Yes.
07:25When I said, let's measure it, I was a little nervous.
07:29But there are other things that you are particular about.
07:34When you wear jeans, the color comes off.
07:37When the color comes off,
07:39I put a lot of effort into sewing to make it look cool like vintage jeans.
07:44You make it look vintage by sewing.
07:46Yes.
07:47I'd like you to explain this in detail.
07:51I prepared jeans made by the company and cheap jeans.
07:56I see.
07:57Reasonable and easy to get.
07:59Yes.
08:01At a glance, you can tell that the fabric is different.
08:05But if you look at the sewing part,
08:08I think it's completely different when you compare the seams.
08:13It's a little rough.
08:16Yes.
08:17I think there is a small unevenness on the side of this seam.
08:23It's not here at all.
08:24No.
08:25What we mean is that it's a flat color.
08:28I see.
08:29It's just that the color is falling off.
08:31Yes.
08:32But I sewed this part with a thick thread to make it uneven.
08:37I see.
08:38You made it look uneven on purpose.
08:40Yes.
08:41Vintage jeans used to be sewn with a thick thread.
08:44In the past, it was sewn with a thick thread,
08:48but as a result, it looks like this.
08:51Yes.
08:52So, if you are a jeans enthusiast,
08:54you think this is cool.
08:55Yes.
08:56Originally, it was sewn with a thick thread.
08:59Yes.
09:00But in fact, I think this is easier to wear.
09:04I think it's each person's hobby.
09:06Yes.
09:07If you like it once,
09:09it will be more cool.
09:10Yes.
09:11I think it will be like that more and more.
09:13Yes.
09:14What is the secret of the self-produced brand Rainbow Jeans?
09:23For more than 40 years,
09:25the company has been running on the orders of domestic jeans manufacturers.
09:29But at this rate, we don't know when it will turn red.
09:33I want to give more benefits to the employees.
09:38With that in mind,
09:39President Uchida decided to launch a self-produced brand in September 2016.
09:46However, the jeans industry is very competitive.
09:49There is no reason to go in a straight line.
09:53There are a lot of jeans in the world.
09:56After all, I have to get customers to stop.
10:00I have to make something interesting.
10:03So, President Uchida went around the jean manufacturers in Okayama Prefecture
10:07and looked for something that caught his eye.
10:10Yes.
10:11One day, he was taken by surprise.
10:16It's just a normal denim fabric,
10:18but when the color fades,
10:21a silver color appears.
10:23It's something I've never seen before.
10:26It's amazing.
10:27Generally, the fabric of jeans made in Okayama
10:30uses a thread dyed in the method of rope dyeing.
10:34This thread is dyed only on the surface,
10:37and the center remains white.
10:40Therefore, when you wear jeans,
10:42the color of the surface gradually fades and a white thread appears.
10:46I see.
10:47This creates a beautiful color of jeans.
10:52On the other hand, the fabric found by President Uchida
10:55is not a normal white thread,
10:57but a green or red thread,
10:59so when you wear it for many years,
11:01the gray color fades and a colorful color appears.
11:06It's interesting.
11:07This fabric was made by a local fabric manufacturer,
11:11but it was so unique that it was hard to find a buyer.
11:15However, for President Uchida,
11:17this strong personality was what he was looking for.
11:21I see.
11:22It's not just white from indigo,
11:25but if you change the color from indigo,
11:27isn't it interesting?
11:28I think it's interesting.
11:30That's why I thought it was good.
11:33In 2017,
11:35just three months after meeting the article,
11:38a completely new type of jeans was born.
11:42The name is Rainbow Jeans.
11:46When I first saw this, I thought it was Rainbow Jeans.
11:48First of all, it sold 100 pieces.
11:50If this was popular,
11:52President Uchida decided to start manufacturing in earnest.
11:58As a result, many people were fascinated by its novelty,
12:02and 100 pieces were sold in a blink of an eye.
12:05So, Yasaki tried to start manufacturing for full-scale sales.
12:12But the sales were suddenly halted.
12:17The reason was the disaster that struck Japan in 2018.
12:23The factory where the jeans were sold was severely damaged,
12:26and all the rainbow fabric that had been prepared had been lost.
12:30The jeans that had been dreaming of
12:32were swallowed up in a flash and disappeared.
12:38You have to make a lot of fabric for rainbows.
12:41If you don't make 600 or 800 pieces of jeans,
12:46you can't make fabric.
12:48It's such a difficult fabric.
12:50You can't take that risk in a small factory like ours.
12:54So I gave up on re-production.
13:00Although there was a response,
13:02under the calm judgment of President Uchida as a manager,
13:06he gave up the manufacturing of rainbow jeans.
13:09At the same time, he had to reduce the activity of his own brand.
13:16The challenge of chasing his dream
13:18closed the curtain once and for all.
13:23But four years later,
13:28a package arrived at the company.
13:31In the unopened package,
13:33there was something surprising.
13:36Actually, this was the key to the revival of rainbow jeans.
13:40It was a piece of fate.
13:43It's amazing. It's beautiful.
13:45Well, it's a colorless culture,
13:48so it's one of the funs of the owner
13:52to keep it hidden inside and let it come out gradually.
13:55I thought it was really interesting.
13:58This is the very first state,
14:01but the way it comes out is elegant.
14:04It's cool.
14:05First of all, this rainbow is dyed in one of the seven colors,
14:09and then dyed in indigo.
14:11It's dyed twice.
14:12Yes, it's dyed twice.
14:14Didn't you have jeans with colored threads before?
14:18In general denim,
14:20the vertical thread is indigo,
14:22and the horizontal thread is white.
14:24That's the basic color of denim.
14:27There are few jeans that change the color of the horizontal thread
14:30and the color comes out on the back of the jeans.
14:34But our rainbow is not dyed in the horizontal thread,
14:37but in the vertical thread,
14:39and then dyed in indigo.
14:41I think it's such a rare fabric that I've never seen before.
14:45So the vertical thread is rainbow,
14:47and the horizontal thread is white.
14:49That's right.
14:51So at first glance, it looks like a normal jean,
14:54but when you color it,
14:56you can see the color for the first time.
14:58So if you buy it, you won't know which color is rainbow.
15:03I don't know at all.
15:04Oh, really?
15:05We don't know what color is where.
15:08Oh, I see.
15:09When it's done,
15:11you'll see red or green for the first time.
15:14I see.
15:15So there's a sense of anticipation.
15:17That's right.
15:18That might be even more interesting.
15:20What color will it be?
15:22I think it's pretty exciting.
15:24I feel like I made it for that excitement.
15:28What is the key to the revival of Rainbow Jeans?
15:37The company had to give up the production of Rainbow Jeans,
15:40which was supposed to be the pillar of its own brand
15:43due to the disaster of the factory where it was traded.
15:48But one day, a package arrived,
15:51and it changed its fate.
15:54Rainbow Jeans, which was sold four years ago,
15:57came back to the company as a surprise request.
16:01The moment he saw the jeans,
16:03a big change came to President Uchida's mind.
16:08I was really surprised.
16:10I didn't imagine it.
16:11It was really cool.
16:14The rainbow jeans continued to maintain the bright rainbow color even after being worn for a long time,
16:20and it merged beautifully with the craftsmanship of the company.
16:24It was reborn as a brand that no one had ever seen before.
16:32Younger people than me thought it was cool.
16:37I told the young people to revive it,
16:42but they said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
16:46Rainbow Jeans had a better finish than expected,
16:50but from an economic point of view,
16:52President Uchida did not lose his careful attitude towards the revival.
16:58However, Naoyuki, the eldest son, and Taizo, the second son,
17:01broke through the hesitation.
17:10President Uchida was moved by the enthusiasm of his sons,
17:13and decided to restart the project.
17:16However, there was a big barrier in the way to the revival.
17:23It was a tough reality that the rainbow fabric that had been used before no longer existed,
17:28and the fabric had to be re-made from scratch.
17:34The manufacturer that had been manufacturing the fabric before was already out of production,
17:38so Naoyuki continued to look for a textile manufacturer for half a year.
17:46And finally, he found a manufacturer that would cooperate with him, and began development.
17:53The biggest challenge was whether the colored thread would dye the fabric beautifully.
18:00A special process was required to dye the colored thread with rope dye.
18:07At that time, there was a great anxiety about whether the color inside would remain beautiful.
18:14However, Naoyuki did not have time to experiment due to budget constraints,
18:18and carefully considered the results.
18:20He decided to dye the fabric with a one-shot contest.
18:25You can try to dye the fabric, but it's quite difficult.
18:31But once it's done, it's like a one-shot contest.
18:37It was a really risky challenge.
18:41At the same time, Naoyuki's brother, Taizo, was in charge of fundraising.
18:46He proposed using crowdfunding.
18:50The target amount was 1 million yen.
18:54However, the result was a surprising development that no one expected.
18:59A total of 50 million yen was raised.
19:03That's amazing.
19:06I was surprised, to be honest.
19:08I'm glad.
19:11The result of a one-shot contest.
19:14The dyeing was a great success.
19:16While leaving the color inside vivid,
19:19only the outside was able to be dyed beautifully.
19:24However, the challenge does not end here.
19:27In order to check whether the rainbow color rises beautifully due to the change of seasons,
19:31he rubbed the fabric with a paper file and experimented over and over again.
19:38I found green and red.
19:41I found that yellow was a little greenish.
19:43I checked it over and over again.
19:46I bleached the fabric to get rid of the color.
19:49I thought it would be okay, so I went on sale.
19:54With the power of the two brothers,
19:56Rainbow Jeans, the long-awaited brand, is back on the market in 2022.
20:03In celebration of this revival,
20:05a pre-sale event was held.
20:07The sale of the brand itself was also a great success.
20:12I asked the person who actually purchased Rainbow Jeans about the charm of Rainbow Jeans.
20:20As soon as it arrived, I was wearing jeans for more than half of the year.
20:28It's like this.
20:29I think it's coming out beautifully.
20:31The rainbow line is coming out.
20:33I think I'm going to fall in love with it.
20:37As the sales of the brand itself continues to grow,
20:40the company makes a big decision.
20:43It's the construction of a new factory.
20:46It's not just the employees who are looking forward to this.
20:50The members of the Uchida Hosei OB Association, who have overcome the difficult times of the company,
20:55are also looking forward to this new factory.
21:01I talked to the owner of the company.
21:03He said,
21:04What's wrong?
21:06I said,
21:07I'll lend you some money.
21:10I'm looking forward to it.
21:13Uchida Hosei has overcome difficulties and regained its brilliance again.
21:18The company's challenge will be inherited into a new generation and continue into the future.
21:24Jeans dyed in light blue will continue to color the hearts of many people.
21:33Naoyuki Uchida's younger brother, Taizo, also came to the studio.
21:38Nice to meet you.
21:40And this is what the person who purchased it sent?
21:45That's right.
21:47This is...
21:49For a moment...
21:51I was wondering what was going on.
21:54It's strange that it's not white.
21:57Did you two see this when you bought it?
22:00We saw it.
22:01The moment I opened it,
22:03To be honest, it was before we got in the car.
22:07I've never actually seen a rainbow.
22:10The moment I saw it, I thought,
22:12It's very colorful and beautiful.
22:14That's my first impression.
22:16I immediately posted it on social media.
22:18Then a lot of customers said,
22:21Why is this jeans? Let me revive it.
22:24I got a lot of inquiries.
22:26It was a great help.
22:27Launching a crowdfunding.
22:29Where can I buy the company's rainbow jeans now?
22:34Basically, we sell pop-ups all over the country.
22:38I see.
22:39From October to early November,
22:43We are selling online.
22:47I see.
22:48How much is it?
22:50It's 31,900 yen for one.
22:53By making this rainbow jeans,
22:56Is there any change in the company?
22:59The customer who bought the rainbow jeans,
23:01Two people came to my house.
23:04But I'm still working as an employee.
23:08I think that's the best thing.
23:11And the OBs.
23:14I'll lend you some money.
23:17But you can build a place where people can gather like that.
23:20That's right.
23:21I want to build a place where OBs can meet.
23:25Even if we build a new factory,
23:27It's not a factory that's hard to get in.
23:29I want to build a factory that's open to the local community.
23:32That's great.
23:33I think it's great that it's going to be a place where people can gather like a family.
23:40That's what I'm trying to do.
23:43Mr. Yashima.
23:44Lastly, please tell us about today's lesson.
23:47This time...
23:51Be cool!
23:55After all, everyone wants to be cool.
24:00If you want to wear something that you think is cool,
24:06You've all been there, haven't you?
24:09That's why there are so many good things going on right now.
24:14I thought it was amazing to learn from this one pair of jeans.
24:20I'm looking forward to the factory.
24:22Thank you very much for today.