ミシンを踏み始めたばかりの頃。
頭の中には理想のジーンズがあるのに、腕は全然追いつかない。どうしたら上手くなれるのかと悩んでいた時、ふと昔の先生の言葉を思い出しました。
「字が下手だと思うなら、大切な人に手紙を書きなさい。
そうすれば少しでも綺麗に書こうと思うから」
当時の私は、自分で穿く予定もない、売る予定もないジーンズを“練習”と称して縫ってばかり。けれどそれでは理想には届かない。
だから思い切って、大切な人のために3本のジーンズを縫いました。
1本は、今TCBで専務をしてくれている高岡に。
1本は、若い頃お金のなかった私のためにUNION SPECIALを集めてくれた、児島で“親父”と呼ぶミシン屋さんに。
そしてもう1本は、当時の上司・矢部さんに。
20代前半の私は、給料の大半をミシンにつぎ込み、食費はほぼゼロ。週の半分以上を矢部さんに奢ってもらいながら、なんとかミシンを揃えたのは内緒です。
その矢部さんの会社に先日遊びに行くと、彼はまだ20年前に私が縫ったジーンズを穿いていました。
膝裏には深いハチノス。ボロボロだけど誰が見てもカッコいい。けれど矢部さんは「これしかジーンズがないんだ」と言い張るんです。
そこで今回は、25年前に“私”が縫った一本の代わりに、“私たち”が作ったS40’sをプレゼントしました。
これからまた20年穿いていただいて、さらにカッコいい色落ちに育ててもらえたら。
その時は「私たち」が責任を持って回収しに伺います。
When I had just started sewing on a machine,
I had an image of the ideal pair of jeans in my head, but my skills couldn’t keep up. I often wondered how I could get better, until one day I remembered something a teacher once told me:
“If you think your handwriting is poor, try writing a letter to someone important to you.
That way, you’ll naturally try to make it more beautiful.”
Back then, I kept sewing jeans I never planned to wear myself, and never intended to sell—calling it “practice.” But that was never going to bring me closer to my ideal.
So I decided to make three pairs of jeans for people who really mattered to me.
One for Takaoka, who today serves as managing director at TCB.
One for the sewing machine repairman in Kojima—my “old man”—who gathered UNION SPECIAL machines for me when I was young and broke.
And one for my boss at the time, Mr. Yabe.
In my early twenties, most of my paycheck went straight into buying sewing machines. That left me with almost nothing for food. To survive, I relied on Mr. Yabe, who treated me to meals more than half the week—though that’s still a bit of a secret.
When I visited his company recently, I found him still wearing the jeans I had sewn for him twenty years ago.
The backs of the knees had developed deep honeycombs. They were torn and worn, yet undeniably cool. And still, Mr. Yabe insisted, “These are the only jeans I’ve got.”
So this time, instead of the pair I had made 25 years ago as just “me,” I gave him a pair of S40’s that “we” made together at TCB.
I hope he’ll wear them hard for another twenty years, until they fade into something even more beautiful.
And when that time comes, “we” will gladly come and collect them.