Located deep in the countryside of Aichi Prefecture, UZUiRO began as a two‑person natural dyeing workshop producing made‑to‑order garments in their grandmother’s house. Still rooted in community, the brand now collaborates with local mills and artisans, combining the beauty of botanical dyes with Japanese weaving expertise. In this article we explore UZUiRO’s distinctive textiles and inventive use of natural indigo and other plant-based dyes.
UZUiRO: Exemplary Plant-Dyed Apparel
Small Scale – Big Value
UZUiRO is an unusual apparel brand. For a start, they’re located far from the chi-chi fashion enclaves of Tokyo; based instead in rural Nishio, on the shores of Mikawa Bay in Aichi Prefecture. Ten years ago, UZUiRO was just a husband and wife team working on a single home sewing machine. While the company has now expanded to 15 staff members, it remains very much a hands-on, roots-based craft business.
There’s also a strong community spirit to UZU. Primarily in terms of supporting the local textile industry. But also in sharing their knowledge and skills with local residents, running workshops in the use of natural plant dyes such as indigo.
This ethos also extends to the clothes themselves; the designs of which owe as much to customer input as they do to the artistic vision of UZU’s creative team. To this end, the company primarily operates on a made-to-order basis. Meanwhile much of the production process is kept in-house, with only specialized tasks such as weaving outsourced to local artisans and family-run mills.
While the brand has lofty ambitions in terms of keeping the region’s textile industry alive, they don’t aspire to world domination. The popular start-up mantra of “scale, scale, scale!” holds little weight here. In fact, if the only way of maintaining quality and value is to keep the operation small and personal, then this is exactly what UZUiRO intend to do.
Preserving Japanese Weaving Traditions
It’s said that the area where UZUiRO is based, Mikawa, is where cotton was first introduced to Japan – over 1,000 years ago. It’s certainly where the cotton industry first flourished, and by the Meiji period countless water-powered spinning boats bobbed on the Yahagi River, and the clacking of looms echoed throughout the town.
The Tenjiku cotton shrine in Nishio, Aichi. Image credit.
The degree to which Nishio’s history is entwined with textile production is illustrated by the fact that it is home to a shrine dedicated to cotton. Sadly, though, this fact speaks more to the region’s past than to present day realities. Indeed, over the last century, the Japanese textile industry has been decimated by a move to overseas production and today the number of mills in Mikawa has dropped to an astonishing 1% of its former glory!
It’s one of UZUiRO’s primary goals to reverse this trend.
Opportunity In Adversity
In some ways, though, UZUiRO came about precisely because of this decline. As a tiny company producing small-batch clothing, UZUiRO had little hope of catching the attention of busy textile mills – especially when competing against the multimillion‑dollar orders of major conglomerates. What’s more, while mills in the Mikawa region have traditionally produced cloth for a whole range of uses – from industrial materials to interiors, bedding, and even automobiles – these uses did not generally extend to clothing.
But initially knowing little about the fashion business, and very much open to experimentation, brand founders Oreo san and Atchi san were not prejudiced by preconceived ideas regarding textile use. They simply started contacting local factories – typically small or family owned enterprises using vintage mechanical shuttle looms dating from the middle of the last century – to see what textiles were available. The pair soon set to work turning their favorites from among these fabrics into clothes they personally wanted to wear – often surprising mill owners with unconventional use.
In this way, textiles originally intended for auto furnishings, and others designed for wrapping tofu, became loose and durable pants; cloth produced for judo apparel was turned into jackets or backpacks; traditional bedding fabrics were now lightweight tops. All laboriously colored by hand, using botanical dyes.
Were the local textile industry still thriving, it’s unlikely that many mills would have given the two young founders the time of day. Now, though, Oreo and Atchi have forged excellent working relationships – and even close friendships – with many local mill owners. Some of whom come by for a chat on their days off!
Natural Plant Dyes
As central as the local weaving industry is to UZUiRO’s DNA, it’s the art of botanical dyeing – and natural indigo dyeing in particular – that really sets the brand apart.
Natural indigo dye was once used on a global scale, coloring everything from Roman faces to Tuareg robes and denim jeans. But in the late 19th Century, the convenience and uniformity of lab-synthesized indigo sent the natural variety into premature retirement.
For connoisseurs of plant dyed clothing, however, it is precisely the unevenness and unpredictability of botanical dyeing that creates much of its appeal. Indeed, to the natural dye convert, the flat, uniform effect created by chemical dyes lacks both the subtlety and the sophistication of clothes tinted with natural plant dyes. Chemical dyes certainly have their uses, but aesthetically they are for those who prefer a parking lot over a rain-forest; a monotonous plain of asphalt versus the complex tones, textures, and contours of the natural environment.
Some of UZUiRO’s intricately-patterned garments are made from yarn that the team dye themselves before sending it to be milled into cloth. However, the majority of the brand’s garments are garment-dyed. Meaning that color is added only after the materials have been cut and sewn into a finished piece of clothing. The advantages of this method are numerous: from purely aesthetic considerations to more practical ones such as avoiding waste and making it easier to fulfill small-batch or custom orders.
The Art of Aizome Japanese Indigo Dyeing
A casual double indigo look from UZUiRO.
The natural indigo dyeing process is always captivating: fresh, un‑dyed cloth is dipped into a bath of fermented indigo, emerging a deep aquatic green before transforming into brilliant blue as the indigo oxidizes before your eyes. It’s a spectacle few people tire of.
However, natural indigo dyeing is a highly demanding and laborious process. Not only does the fermented dye bath need to be cared for over months, like an importunate child, but the deep blues – and even blacks – that are so highly-prized, can only be achieved by repeated dips. Exceptionally dark tones may require well over 10 rounds; once time is allowed for full oxidization in between, the process can take weeks!
Nonetheless, for those with a passion for natural indigo, the rich variations in color and texture imparted by the process make it well worth the extra work. And that’s without taking into account the ethical advantage: a dye made from crushed leaves and water is always likely to be more sustainable than a lab-made chemical powder. What’s more, when grown rotationally, indigo plants help nourish the soil for other crops.
Check out the full UZUiRO natural indigo collection
Other Types of Botanical Dyeing
Persimmon-dyed Cord pants.
While Japanese indigo dyeing is world-renowned, UZUiRO have also mastered the art of botanical dyeing using a number of less well-known natural dyes.
Ripe and unripe persimmon. Image credit.
Kakishibu is a natural dye made by extracting the juice from unripe kaki (Japanese persimmon) and fermenting the liquid for over a year. It can produce a range of warm tones from light beige, to burnt orange, and – with the addition of an iron mordant – even black.
Aesthetics aside, natural persimmon tannins possess a range of beneficial qualities (antiseptic, insect-repellent, and waterproof, to name but a few), all of which are imparted to the fabric upon dyeing.
Bengala is a multipurpose natural dye pigment made from iron oxide that has long been a part of Japanese craft tradition, whether used for dyeing clothes, adding color to ceramics and lacquerware, or even used as house paint due to its insect and mold-prevention properties.
Found growing wild in the mountainous regions of Southern Japan, Yamamomo (Japanese Bayberry) is another versatile botanical dye that can be used to create a variety of colors. Due to its resistance to saltwater, Yamamomo was traditionally used for dyeing fishing nets.
Madder is a plant that has been widely employed around the world for centuries, both for its medicinal properties and as a natural dye. It creates exquisite shades of red and pink.
Logwood is one of very few natural dyes capable of producing a vibrant purple color. Historically it has been used for dyeing everything from Buddhist robes to Napoleon's coat. Now UZUiRO use it to make clothes for you.
Matcha is enjoying an unprecedented global boom in popularity right now. And while this trend has apparently created a shortage of the drink overseas, Nishio is one of the leading Japanese tea-producing regions, so UZUiRO never have difficulty tracking it down. On the contrary, the boom just means an increase in matcha-waste byproducts, which UZUiRO repurpose to dye garments an attractive shade of gray.
While natural dyes are often less color fast than their chemical cousins, UZUiRO offer a lifetime re-dyeing service for faded items.
Ethical and Elegant Plant Dyed Clothing From UZUiRO
UZUiRO largely concentrate on small batch production. This is partly out of necessity; some of their lines are made from limited quantities of deadstock fabric, and the realities of producing plant dyed clothing can make mass production impractical.
There are also occasional highly limited drops. And then there are the custom orders. However, some of the brand’s evergreen garments are produced in larger quantities. This varied production model helps to make UZUiRO’s well-made and sustainably dyed clothes available to everyone.
Mikawa Sashiko Weave Collection
UZUiRO’s Sashiko Weave line transforms Mikawa cotton – a fabric originally designed for judo outfits – into everyday wear that balances strength with softness. Slowly woven in small Mikawa factories to a denim‑like thickness, the fabric feels firm, yet is light and adapts beautifully to the wearer’s body.
Gauze Fabric Collection
Crafted in double, triple, and even six‑ply variations, and once used exclusively for bedding, UZUiRO gauze fabric reveals unexpected versatility when transformed into clothing. The fabric boasts a soft, crinkled texture that breathes easily, dries quickly, and remains gentle even on sensitive skin.
MOTTAiiNA Upcycling Project
The MOTTAiiNA range takes its name from that popular old Japanese Grandma expression, “mottainai!” – effectively “waste not, want not” Repurposing surplus yarn and deadstock fabrics are part of UZUiRO's daily routine, but with the MOTTAiiNA upcycling range, even greater emphasis is put on avoiding waste.
More specifically, MOTTAiiNA products are limited edition accessories that have been locally knitted using leftover yarn too insignificant in quantity for major manufacturers to bother with.
UZUTEXTiLE
With UZUTEXTiLE the brand expands from its more minimalist lines of single-color items to harness the skills of Japanese artisans in creating rich and stunning patterns. Take this jacquard knit cotton cardigan for example; a riot of geometry formed from stylized fish and wave motifs.
Unique Dyed Series
The Unique Dyed Series is a run of special limited edition items that was developed to coincide with the brand’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Some of the techniques employed in producing these pieces require ten times the effort of normal products, meaning that the quantity made is naturally limited, and consequently the price also higher. However, for those seeking truly unique garments, this is the first place to look.
Conclusion
In a fashion world driven by speed and uniformity, UZUiRO’s commitment to small‑scale production and the artistry of natural indigo dyeing clearly sets them apart. As the founders put it, “We don't sell our soul. We prioritize individuality over scale. We prioritize pride in our work over efficiency” – a philosophy embodied in every single one of their creations.
To purchase UZUiRO’s beautiful plant dyed clothing from outside Japan, simply sign up for a free account at ZenMarket, and start adding exemplary pieces of natural indigo dyeing to your cart right away.
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