JAPAN QUALITY
FOUNDATION OF JAPAN QUALITY
Kurabo Standard
Kurabo has built quality into production systems by carefully managing quality control across supply chains from material procurement to production, at both directly operated and cooperating plants. All production sites in the Kurabo Group practice the stringent “Kurabo Standard” quality management.
Whether in Japan and anywhere else around the world, Japanese engineers effectively share technology and control quality under the “Kurabo Standard” so that every product represents “Made by Kurabo.”
BASED ON KURABO STANDARD
Japanese Quality
“Kurabo Standard” is our internal phrase for quality - established in Japan and used throughout our production network around the world and represents the highest level of quality. These standards detail product design concepts, fabric and yarn specifications, production processes and quality management procedures that are constantly reviewed to exceed the needs of global market trends.
“KURABO STANDARD” represents the highest level of “Japanese Quality.”
BASED ON KURABO STANDARD
Kurabo Denim Production Network
Kurabo has development teams and specialists sharing expertise for development and quality perfected in Japan, supporting product integrity around the world.
spinning
The process of making filaments and yarns begins by importing carefully selected cotton from sources around the world. Our spinning process is carefully managed assuring “Kurabo Standard” quality
Kurabo has maintained authenticity while constantly improving and expanding our technologies for over 100 years.
We combine highly advanced spinning methods with a wide variety of filaments and yarns, as well as unique modified shapes of uneven yarn giving our denim a vast array of appearances, functionality and texture, and a handmade look.
Our spinning is the first step towards making Kurabo Denim unique, special and one of the best in the world.
DENIM IS UNEVEN LIFE
Slab Yarn
Nearly half century before we started producing denim, there was no spinning technique to produce yarn with a uniform thickness so each yarn naturally and unintentionally had some thick and thin parts. This eventually became the sought-after natural vintage look in denim.
After years of troubleshooting and development, Kurabo came up with what we call our“MR” slub yarn, which recreates the non-geometric slub shape and thickness of natural vintage. It is very difficult to produce this naturally uneven yarn since spinning equipment today specializes in producing even yarn. But, with years of passionate research and the application of our advanced spinning technology, Kurabo has successfully reproduced the vintage-like appearance of the original slub yarns.
(Left) – an example of a normal straight yarn
(Right) an example of an uneven yarn
The appearance and character of our denim fabric starts with the unique shapes of yarns we make.
Kurabo uses proprietary spinning technology to create “natural” slubs appearances in a wide variety of innovative,
unique yarn shapes and sizes
Dyeing
This process involves bundling filament and yarn into ropes and soaking them in indigo dye. Repeating the process several times over varies the intensity and depth of color. Kurabo’s world class dyeing technologies start from our extensive knowledge and love of “indigo.” This passion motivated us to develop dyeing equipment that produces brilliant and unmatchable colors in high demand around the world.
Yarn dyeing Sakamoto denim Co., Ltd.
Weaving
This process weaves weft yarns and indigo warp yarns into fabrics. In order to produce diverse types of denim fabrics, Kurabo has a wide variety of looms from the old school type that makes selvage denim to high-speed models.
Shinohara Textile Co., Ltd.
Finishing
As part of the final process of our denim making, pre-shrunk, pre-skewed finish fixes the cotton fibers and smoothes the surface as well as reduces shrinkage and twisting.
We specialize in a variety of other finishing techniques from normal sizing, to adding textures, color retention, as well as coatings resulting in an incredible variety of finishing capabilities to respond to trends, and satisfy the needs of our customers globally.
QUALITY: INSPECTION, Kurabo fabrics are 100% inspected and tested, and all results are closely managed as a key component to ensure KURABO STANDARD.
