Can Your Jeans Do This? Stretching Our Legs in KATO’s Mammoth Selvedge

This blog post is sponsored by KATO. Read about how we run Denimhunters here.

KATO’s 17.5 oz. Heavyweight Stretch Selvedge Denim Gives Us Good Reason To Be More Flexible 

I’ll admit that, beginning with my first pair of selvedge, I looked down my nose at stretch denim. I could see its merits for women, but I couldn’t make stretch selvedge denim make sense for men—especially those, like me, who are shaped like pool cues.

The door opened a crack a few years ago, when some of our favourite selvedge brands started introducing a small amount of elastane to their heavy denims. If the champions of heavyweight Japanese selvedge were doing it, surely it deserved a closer look?

I was, shall we say, stretch-curious. I’ve struggled, as we all have, with difficult break-in periods and crotch blowouts. I’ve cursed heavy denim when climbing hills or stairs. I was open to stretching my horizons.

When KATO offered to send me a pair of their brand new 17.5 oz. Mammoth Stretch Selvedge for a review, it gave me an opportunity to scratch the itch. As will become clear below, I wasn’t prepared for how much I was going to enjoy them.

FYI: While this post is sponsored, the opinions expressed are entirely our own.

The Skinny on KATO

If KATO is a new name for you, here’s a quick run-down of the brand’s history, starting in 2013, when denim designer Nick Noguchi left Japan to found a new label in Los Angeles. 

Nick’s deep love for early-twentieth-century American casual apparel served as the starting point for collections that spoke directly to Americans in a language that American fans of the brand would quickly recognise as their own. 

According to Michelle Voce of the KATO team, the brand “draws inspiration from American workwear while incorporating a Japanese essence”.

She says that KATO’s Japanese roots are important, but recognises that Japan’s heritage scene is its own animal.

KATO goes its own way, trying to “honour both cultures” by incorporating Japanese craftsmanship and fabrics with practical and timeless American styles.

Pieces are robust and practical, construction is technical and precise. This East/West fusion of durability and artistry can be felt in every KATO piece. 

To achieve this requires a hands-on approach. KATO’s Los Angeles offices look over the factory floor where all of KATO’s pieces are manufactured. This allows Noguchi and his team to directly oversee production and perform in-person quality checks and controls. 

Crucially, KATO’s clothing has been designed not just with Western styles, but also with Western bodies in mind. Shirts are longer and slimmer, while allowing room for broader chests and shoulders. Jeans are made for thicker thighs and fuller hips.

It didn’t take KATO long to catch the eye of top-shelf heritage retailers. Before the brand was a decade old, they had settled in at some of our favourite menswear shops, including Brooklyn Clothing Co., Blue Owl Workshop, and DeeCee Style.

With their fusion of heritage style and modern comfort, they’ve found success with laid-back customers who still want to look put together. KATO pieces can move effortlessly between formal and informal spaces. This is by design.

The pieces are quietly stylish. Branding is minimal, and designs are rooted in comfort and utility. They imagine a customer who wants something they can wear in a relaxed office who can, after work, transition to the pub or beach without changing.

Their shirting is particularly adept at this, with their 8 oz. Ripper Flannels, Double Gauze, and Brace Shirts being welcome anywhere that allows loose shirttails. With heritage touches like triple stitching and prominent chain stitch run-off, their shirts have all the hallmarks of careful construction we look for.

Even if elastane is a non-starter for you, KATO’s good reputation is founded on far more than their 4-Way Stretch Selvedge Denim. They’ve got Japanese heritage bona fides and made-in-America build quality. Finding a fit somewhere in their line-up won’t be a stretch.      

The Big Stretch: KATO’s Calling Card

Before we dive in for a closer look at KATO’s 4-Way Stretch Selvedge, it’s important to note that KATO can absolutely satisfy selvedge purists: They have plenty of 100% cotton selvedge jeans.

Their Pen Slim and The Hammer (their straight fit) are both available in the 100% cotton 12.5 oz. Natural Slub Indigo Selvedge milled in Japan and cut and sewn in California.

Their jeans can more than hold their own in a slug-fest with similarly priced lightweight selvedge. 

KATO’s biggest claim to fame, though, is their proprietary 4-Way Stretch Selvedge, which was developed by Nick Noguchi when KATO was just starting to introduce itself to the American market. 

It is a 96/4 blend of cotton and elastane, with stretch at the core of both the warp and weft yarns (most brands only add it to the weft). This is what gives the four-way stretch its name. It stretches up and down, left and right.

I talked to Brad Tien at Brooklyn Clothing Co. in Canada about KATO’s stretch denim. He told me that KATO’s jeans have been an easy bridge for those who want to experience the world of selvedge without wrestling with heavy and stiff jeans. 

Brad sells a lot of KATO pairs to experienced denimheads, who are open to the stretch concept—especially when they’ve been shown faded examples and tried on a pair.

Getting the Mammoth Selvedge just right took some time. It’s not just more cotton added to the same formula. 

They spent a year iterating the denim, experimenting with different yarn compositions and dyeing techniques until they found what they feel is the perfect balance of weight, comfort and fade potential.

After a slew of broken needles and discarded pairs, they feel they’ve really got something here. I’ve got to hand it to them. The pair surpassed my expectations by a wide margin. 

What it Feels Like To Wear Heavy Stretch Selvedge

Before I even tried the pair on, I gave them a thorough once-over. All the details you’d expect to find on a pair at this price point were there: there are flashes of selvedge ID at the cuffs and running the full length of the fifth pocket, there are raised belt loops, and you’ll find chain stitching on the waistband, cuffs, and back pockets.

The yarns have been dyed with a combination of indigo and sulphur, with the process finished off with eight dips in an indigo bath. The denim has a deep and heavy tone to it, but the undyed weft yarns dance across the surface, pleasing eye and hand. 

When I slid my legs into them for the first time, before I buttoned them, I was convinced that I would need to send them back for a larger pair. Everything in my muscle memory told me that I wouldn’t be able to make the two ends of the waistband meet. 

My eyebrows raised when the pair buttoned without any fuss. I took my first steps in them. My eyebrows raised again. I squatted down to the floor. They raised even higher. The pair felt heavy, but the resistance I’ve come to expect with heavy selvedge just wasn’t there.

When trying new pairs, I’m used to some mild to moderate discomfort when sitting, crouching, or climbing stairs. The stretch made me feel less restricted and more agile. As I moved, they pushed back, but only gently.

For straight fits like The Hammer, the added flexibility will be noticeable, but for slim fits like The Pen, the stretch makes a massive difference. It turns out that the pain and patience we’re all used to with heavy selvedge aren’t entirely necessary. 

If we’re willing to bend or break our self-imposed rules about stretch denim, heavy selvedge can be a cake walk. We can, if we can be flexible, glide into slim-fitting, heavy pairs that are comfortable right out of the gate.

Can Stretch Denim Fade Beautifully? 

Of course, comfort is not everything. Fade enthusiasts understand that sharp contrast fades are the result of the struggle between jeans and man. Whiskers and honeycombs only emerge when the wearer begins to win this battle.

For the first week or two, the backs of our hands and knees are raw and sometimes bloody. This is the price we pay for beautiful fades on heavy selvedge. It’s only natural to think that, if we take away this resistance, we’ll be taking away some of the fade potential as well.

Based on early results, it looks like KATO have walked the tightrope, balancing fade potential and comfort. Ten-year veteran of the selvedge scene Rossen Takev has given us proof of this by putting the Mammoth Selvedge through the ringer in this year’s Indigo Invitational.

After seven months of daily wear, he says the jeans are “beyond supreme”. From day one, they felt “like a second skin”, and, thanks to the “neat and chic” style, he’s been able to enjoy them both in the office and the mountains of his native Bulgaria.

He’s enjoyed the small details, like the embroidered care label sewn to the inside of the waistband, but he’s been most impressed with how the jeans have endured the last 200+ days of wear. 

“The engineering”, Nick says, “makes all the difference. It’s the kind of exceptional quality that he says you have to experience for yourself to fully understand and appreciate.

The Mammoth Selvedge was Rosen’s first experience with stretch denim. He says that his experience hasn’t made him any more likely to try stretch pairs from other brands. However, the pair have made him, he says, “a KATO fan for life”. 

He says that this is inevitable for those who are willing to try the brand: “Try KATO once and you’ll forever be a fan.” When his pair were only a few days old, he started thinking about adding a second pair of KATO jeans and a few of their shirts to his wardrobe.

Based on a combination of what I’ve experienced with the Mammoth Selvedge and what I’ve seen and heard from Russ, I’m excited about what the future holds for my pair. 

They haven’t changed how I feel about 100% cotton selvedge, but they’ve certainly changed how I feel about stretch denim.

KATO Belongs in the Conversation

Even if KATO isn’t the first brand you think of when you think of Japanese or American brands (they’re a little bit of each), they definitely belong in the conversation. They’ve got a style of their own—a kind of Southwest attitude mixed with a Japanese precision and simplicity. 

Perhaps best of all, they seem to be a brand that just doesn’t miss. From corduroy trousers, khakis, and oxfords to heritage classics like raw denim, sashiko overshirts, and plaid flannels, they do everything well, with all of KATO’s pieces seeming to bask in the same Californian golden-hour glow. 

If you’re new to the scene and looking for a brand that you can return to over and over again without dropping big dollars on each piece, KATO should definitely be on your radar. 

If you’re a more experienced denimhead who has thus far avoided stretch denim, you should consider making some space in your collection for KATO’s brilliant Mammoth Selvedge. It might surprise you as much as it has surprised me.

Whatever brings you to KATO, try on one of their pieces and you’ll quickly see why some of the best stockists in the scene have shelves and racks brimming with their pieces. 

They fit well, look great, and tick a lot of our boxes in terms of how and where they are made. They’re simultaneously Japanese and American, and they’re definitely doing honour to both cultures.